


Tumblin'

by mmerainbows



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cheerleaders, Competition, Drunk Sex, Drunkenness, Fraternities & Sororities, M/M, Partying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-01-26 16:57:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 38
Words: 53,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1695662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmerainbows/pseuds/mmerainbows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Competitive cheer is serious business as far as Kurt Hummel is concerned and he's not about to let some freshman like Blaine Anderson come in and swoop up everything he's worked so hard for in the past few years. Klaine!AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Flying was exhilarating.

Being up in the air was complete freedom. For the brief moment he was up his heart raced with excitement and nerves. Sometimes it was a straight up toss, other times he flipped in the air. Landing was always the worrisome part where his sense of bliss evaporated. There was always the chance his teammates would fumble and drop him. He could end up with one of many injuries cheerleaders suffered. He could even end up dead. Regardless, it was that thrill that kept him volunteering for the sky. A bigger thrill than could ever be afforded by performing in front of a spellbound audience in the usual routines where he just strutted, tumbled, and danced.

Just as soon as he fell into the waiting arms of his teammates he was again tossed skyward, or in his case, ceilingward. His heart was several feet below him as he lifted into the air, eyes closing for only a split second to imagine himself as a bird that wouldn't have to worry about gravity eventually catching up with him and pulling him back down. His teammates caught him again. They were good, very good in fact. It was why the Sirens won all their competitions with ease. The A team at a college where there were two co-ed teams plus a stunt team - which he was also a part of.

"I know you can throw higher you babies! Come on!" The megaphone blared with feedback and echoed through the large gymnasium. It was directed at Kurt's group, but drew the attention of the B-team, the Spartans, practicing on the other side of the gym. Kurt was used to them watching in what he was sure was awe. There was a reason the Sirens were always number one in competitions. They had the best in talent, the best routines, and pushed themselves beyond the normal limits.

Coach Sylvester was pacing around them as Kurt was tossed again and again. Sometimes he had enough air to flip but most of the time he wasn't able to, thus Coach Sylvester's complaint. This wasn't part of a routine though. Coach Sylvester was making sure all the guys on the team had enough upper body strength to catapult any of the girls up. Kurt was an expert and knew how to fall if he did, so Coach Sylvester had him as the tossing guinea pig presently and he was more than okay with it.

Aside from enjoying flight, showcasing that he was just as good as any of the girls ensured that Coach Sylvester knew Kurt was indispensable. Guys on the team were usually there just for strength and swaying in the background. Kurt could do that, but also anything any of the girls did. It was odd for a sophomore like him to rise the ranks so quickly in cheer. His freshman year though proved that he was a leader, and someone not to be trifled with. When people complained, he got them to shut their mouths. When the formations were sloppy, he directed people back into order. When things were boring, he found a way to spice it up. Cheer wasn't a game as far as Kurt was concerned, it was a lifestyle and one that people needed to commit to.

Up until the this year, Kurt hadn't been concerned about being replaced. Now he cause to be worried and that cause was standing off the the other side of the room on the B-team. Blaine Anderson was recruited for the B-team in Kurt's sophomore year, and while he certainly wasn't the only male cheerleader around, he was the most talented aside from Kurt. In fact, the only reason Coach Sylvester hadn't recruited him onto the A team was because she had enough guys and she didn't like how short Blaine Anderson was during tryouts. The B-team Spartans could have him.

Like Kurt though, he had risen to be the top of his team's social pyramid and it wasn't even half way through the first semester of Blaine's first year. Kurt was worried that next year Sylvester would see the error of her ways and have Kurt replaced with him, or worse, make Kurt cheer alongside him. He didn't want to go down the social ladder. He couldn't go down. Being a top dog had kept him safe from insults and bashing in high school and now again in university. It made him desirable. It gave him that little bit of power he needed to feel important and he wasn't going to have some short freshman taking that away from him.

It didn't help that everyone liked Blaine either. He had those big puppy dog eyes that made the girls coo and a million dollar smile that charmed anyone. Apparently he was just as gay as Kurt was, but he was one of those alpha gays that no one suspected. People wanted to be with Blaine. Girls, guys - everyone loved him. Everyone except for Kurt anyhow.

Kurt saw him for what he was. Anderson was a big name in Ohio and no doubt Blaine was just another one of the trust-fund babies that that particular family produced. He would live his life being fed with a silver spoon and expecting nothing less than that. Kurt had heard that Blaine had even gone to a private school before coming to SCU, and had turned down Harvard to get his degree here.

Kurt couldn't understand that. The only reason he could think of that Blaine would turn down a prestigious university like Harvard was just to spite him. It was ridiculous of course, but it didn't make Kurt any less wary of Blaine. Blaine, who turned on the charm at all the athletics parties and always had a crowd around him to listen to one of his many boring stories while Kurt had to hang out with whatever losers were left behind. Blaine, who ignored Kurt for the most part even though he paid attention to everyone else. Blaine, who could probably do jumps and flips in his sleep the way he did them on command. Blaine was perfect alright. A perfect asshole, and he was making Kurt's life miserable whether or not he realized he was doing it.

Right now Blaine was pointing at him, talking to one of his two sidekicks who would giggle and whisper back to him. It was impossible to focus when he had that kind of attention paid to him. Kurt was used to reverence, not petty mocking when he was practicing. He should have been able to ignore it, but it just infuriated him to the point of telling the guys tossing him let him down and storming over to the other side of the gym, several of his team following because they knew something was about to go down. He was used to having them as his shadow. If the A-team was a gang, he was their crime boss.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You think this is a game rookie?" Kurt snapped at Blaine as he got a few feet away.

"Uh… no.. it's a sport. Practice in fact." Blaine replied, batting his stupidly long lashes ever so innocently. Kurt wasn't going to buy it.

"You pay attention to whatever subpar routine you're working on and stop creeping on us. How about that?"

Blaine looked genuinely surprised by Kurt's directness, leaving Kurt to pull on a smug grin. He could handle Blaine, he decided. He was impervious to the Anderson charm.

"Sorry. Was… just…"

"You were nothing. Are nothing. Will be nothing. Now focus on working towards second place - a.k.a. the first losing place and stop watching our routine. It won't help you. You're not us and you wouldn't be able to replicate our moves if you tried."

"I wasn't… I mean…"

"So what? You just happened to be focusing in on our side of the gym for an inordinate amount of time because you wanted to check to see if the tiles over there are the same as they are over there?"

The girls on either side of Blaine looked ready to pounce on Kurt, and it was only Blaine holding his hands out to either side that kept them at bay. They could try pulling out their own claws, Kurt thought to himself, but he had his own bitches in waiting who he knew could tear them to shreds.

Blaine left quietly and quickly after that, his two girls in tow, retreating to join the rest of the B-team Spartans who had all been watching from a safe distance. It gave Kurt no shortage of pride to know he could shut Blaine down like that. Put him in his place. True he had to pull out his bitch persona to do it, but it was worth it. Blaine stopped looking over, and Kurt could focus on what he did best.

Winning.

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **  
_Reblog if you think SCU Spartans are #1_  
 _#SCUspartans #Sirenssuck_

**_Quintessential_ **  
_Reblog if you think AuntieSnix needs a reality check!_  
 _#SpartansSuck #Sirens are #1_

**_FondueForMew_ **  
_Uh oh. I didn't ask my doctor at my last check up for a reality check? Should I be worried if I have it? Is it contagious?_  
 _#lord tubbington also wants to know_

**_KittysKorner_ **  
_Really? This is why Spartans are #1._  
 _#SCUspartans #Sirenssuck #Your cat is an idiot_

**_JBIatSCU_ **  
_Check out my new blog posting comparing the hotness level of Sirens and Spartans! Who will come out on top… of the pyramid!_  
 _#SCUspartans #SCUsirens #JBI_

**_AuntieSnix_ **  
_That JBIatSCU article is crap. There's no way I'm less hot than Quinn and Blaine is less hot than Kurt. Who on the A-team is sucking JBI off?_  
 _#JBIsucks #SirensSuck_

**_JBIatSCU_ **  
_I assure all my readers that all my rankings are based on empirically collected evidence. There has been no illicit trade-offs for high rankings. Though if I were approached in thanks for being given a high ranking, I would not object…._  
 _#SCUspartans #SCUsirens #JBI_

**_KittysKorner_ **  
_So definitely Quinn or Kurt then._  
 _#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck FOR REAL!_


	2. Chapter 2

Blaine didn’t have time for Kurt Hummel’s princess attitude.  Cheer kept him busy enough, but add to that working on a double major and giving piano lessons on the side and Blaine was lucky he was able to have time to sleep.

Now was not the time to sleep though.  Right now he was trying to finish an assignment for statistics and not think about how he had all been attacked by Kurt in the gym earlier that evening.  All he has been doing was talking to Santana and Kitty when Blaine had let his eyes linger for maybe a little too long on Kurt’s flying form.  He was sure he had caught a genuine smile grace Kurt’s face while he was being tossed in the air and Blaine had to keep looking to make sure he hadn’t imagined it.  Kurt was never anything but snarky, and the only smile Blaine had ever seen on him before then was a smirk.

Blaine was shaken from his thoughtful reverie by the popping sound on the desk beside him.  His toaster, his one appliance in his small dorm room, was the major source of his nutrition when the cafeteria was closed.  It meant Blaine ate a lot of pop-tarts, toaster strudels, and toaster bacon when he was studying.  Though the last item on that list was deceptive.  Toaster bacon may of well been called toaster cardboard based on the taste.

After he had finished another question on normal distribution, he reached over and grabbed a pop-tart, fingers fumbling over it as it was still hot to the touch.  Nine more questions to go after this one he thought to himself, taking a bite of the corner of the treat.  After this he could do his civil engineering homework.  Question after question that required manipulating formulas and deriving equations from data.  This was his life though.  This was what he decided to do for the next four years.

Beside him was a care package from his brother Cooper.  Blaine had opened it eagerly just an hour ago hoping for some treat from the Pacific coast or even a letter from his famous brother.  Unfortunately, Cooper’s idea of a college care package was condoms, lube, porn movies, and gum.  He loved his brother, but there was days he wished he had a sister instead.  Blaine didn’t have the time and energy to spend on the sex his brother thought he must be having. He was kept busy - and not in the fun way.

Blaine was lucky that he got a single room when it came to getting packages from Cooper.  Because of his sexual preference, he had been given a single and it wasn’t because the college was homophobic - it was the other students.  Many had noted they didn’t want to be roomed with a gay guy, so Blaine got to have his own room and he was actually glad of it.  It meant that he could keep his own hours without having to worry about screwing anyone else’s sleep schedule up.  It also meant he could leave a mess.  Which he did.  Too often.

Eight more questions now.

The phone rang and Blaine fished through his papers for it, picking up the call identified on the screen as ‘Queen Bitch’.

“What’s up Santana?”

“What’s up is that we’re going partying after practice tomorrow so make sure you have your panties washed.”

Blaine groaned and looked back at the mess of dirty laundry on his floor.  “Santana… I’m got assignments to finish and -”

“And nothing.  You’re in cheer so you have to go to the big parties and provide pep.”

“I’m more than sure the Sirens have it covered.”

“Oh puh-lease.  We’ll never top them with that attitude.  Now go put in a load of laundry since I can smell you from my dorm room.”

“Okay… fine…”

“Make sure you look hot for me!”

“Santana, you don’t even like men.  Why should I-”

“Because I need some arm candy tomorrow night and the sad fact is that you’re the best the Spartans have to offer.”

“Wow.  Should I be insulted or complimented by that?”

“Neither.  You should be thrilled at the prospect of being on my arm instead of on Kitty’s.”

“What’s wrong with Kitty?”

“Nothing aside from the fact that she is boringly straight.  She’ll no doubt hook up with one of the many equally straight jocks tomorrow night, or at least the closeted ones, leaving you and I sitting on the sidelines trying to look like we enjoy that kind of scene.”

“Santana, if you don’t want to go, we don’t have to.  There’s no rule…”

“Oh no!  Not happening.  We HAVE to go.  If we don’t then we’ll never hear the end of it from the rest of the team and no doubt the Sirens will come up with some nasty excuse as to why we weren’t there.”

“Fine… fine…. just… if Kurt Hummel -”

“Next time he gets close you just let Auntie Snix take care of it Blainey-boo.  You should have let me at him today.”

“That would have solved nothing.”

“Aside from getting his privileged ass off his high horse.  Pasty face needs a lesson in civility.”

“I really don’t think you’d be the best person to teach civility Santana….”

“Well someone should do something about him.”

“Well it’s not going to be you or I…”

“Whatever.  Look hot tomorrow night.  If we can’t teach him a lesson in manners, at least we can make him wish he was in your pants.”

The call was ended with a click and Blaine sighed.  There were never enough hours in the day.  Not for laundry, not for schoolwork, not for cheer, and certainly not for the domineering, asshole that was Kurt Hummel.

 

* * *

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Party at Lamda Beta Phi tomorrow night! Who’s in?_   
_#SCU #lamdabetaphi_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Oh you know all us Spartans will be there!_   
_#SCUspartans #Sirenssuck_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Why?  So you can learn how to party from us Sirens?_   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_If by ‘learn to party’ you mean learn to pass out in a water boy’s lap like you did at DeltaPiGamma’s party last week - then sure._   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Hey… I just got two emails about penis enhancement and I’m not sure which one is a better deal.  Which company do people recommend?_   
_#Lord Tubbington Wants to Know_

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_This just in!  SCU Siren’s cheerleader extraordinaire Brittany Pierce is transgendered!  Rumors are that her partner in pyramids, one Mr. Kurt Hummel, sports girl parts and the pair of them will be swapping genetalia for their upcoming surgeries!  Learn more at JBIatSCU.tumblr.com and keep reading for the newest news at SCU!_   
_#SCUSirens #SCU #JBI_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Is transgendered like… a car thing?  Because I’m pretty sure my engine on my truck is fine.  Kurt checked it out for me and said so._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Brit…. just…. stop…. please.  Don’t post anything else until you talk to me._

 


	3. Chapter 3

Parties were the best source of validation for Kurt.   All the jocks in high school had been complete neanderthals who had been totally unable or unwilling to accept his sexuality.  In college though, people were just more open-minded.  Maybe not everyone, but enough people that the homophobes knew to keep their attitudes to themselves.  

So at a party, guys and girls alike had no problem talking to him, drinking with him, and just having fun with him.  Hell, he’d even made out with a few of the self-identified straight guys who just wanted to experiment.  

“Well Kurt?  Who’s got your eye tonight?”  Quinn mused, sliding up alongside Kurt in what had to be one of her more revealing outfits to date - which said a lot since the girls cheer outfits were barely there.  

Kurt scanned over the crowd, an open vodka cooler in his hand.  Of the guys he knew were gay, most he had already made out with or more and none were worth a second round.  The straight guys he’d made out with too were also, DEFINITELY, not worth a second go.  They had been horribly sloppy, probably used to girl lips and bodies, and had no idea how to handle another man.  

“Football team.  Blonde hair.  Taller.  Sitting on the couch to the left.” Kurt said, directing Quinn’s attention to the man he was paying attention to.

“Oh… he’s a senior.  Nice.  I think his name is Adam or something?  Whatever it is - good choice.”  She sipped whatever was in her red plastic cup and nodded.

“What about you?  Any targets for the evening?”

Quinn sipped some more of the drink, looking at the party-goers over the rim of her cup before responding.  “I don’t know yet.  Not impressed so far.”

Kurt nodded.  He couldn’t disagree with Quinn’s assessment of the straight guys around.  The sad fact about the jocks in college were that most were fraternity boys - more interested in impressing the other guys with their machismo stunts than impressing the girls.  At least they weren’t hateful.

Brittany came up on Kurt’s other side, completing the unholy trinity.  She had a fizzy drink in her hand, probably a pop or some kind of mix, and bounced on her toes as she looked around.  “We totally own this party!”

Kurt and Quinn just nodded in agreement.  Even if they were standing off to the side and not mingling with anyone else, it was true they held the power.  People would glance to them, always acknowledge them as they walked by, and all it would take to change the pace of the party was a word from any three of them.  

Which was precisely what Kurt felt like doing.

“Time for body shots!” He called out, setting his drink down on the mantle of the fireplace he had been standing by and pulling off his shirt.  A cheer went up from the crowd and it only took a moment for a couple of the guys to move the drinks to the room they were in as Kurt laid back on a table.

He laughed as his navel was used as a container, the cool liquid poured into it tickling him.  Quinn had already coaxed the boy he’d pointed out earlier to drink it up, and Kurt made sure to make a small, appreciative groan as his belly was licked clean before sitting up and inviting himself to kiss… Adam was it?  Whomever it was, it probably wouldn’t matter come tomorrow.  Kurt had no time or interest in seeing anyone longer than a night.  

Kurt was sure Adam was gay, but the way the man drew away quickly and looked around at the crowd sheepishly after having Kurt’s tongue in his mouth told a different story.  He was either straight or disinterested, and because Kurt was Kurt, it had to be the former.

Not that it ever stopped Kurt though.

He leaned in, licked his lips over and batted his lashes, “Want to find a quiet corner?”  

Adam swallowed nervously, glancing to Kurt’s side where Quinn was now laying back to allow someone to have a drink off her stomach while the partygoers chanted “Shots! Shots! Shots!” in time with LMFAO’s Shots song playing in the background.  Someone had been paying attention while DJing.

“Well?”  Kurt didn’t like to be kept waiting.

“I… kind of…. like someone else?”  Adam squeaked, eyes darting away from Kurt and over to the side of the room.  Kurt followed the trail and damn near growled when his eyes landed on the target of Adam’s affection.

Of course it was Blaine Anderson.  

Blaine Anderson with his waves of hair always gelled down like a mid 1900’s romantic movie lead.  Blaine Anderson with amber eyes that had microscopic eyes twinkling within them.  Blaine Anderson with plush pink lips that sharply contrasted to his permanently tanned skin.  Blaine Anderson who was so small yet somehow more robust and strong than most of the other guys on either the A or B teams.  Blaine Anderson who always, ALWAYS seemed to be around this year and ruin Kurt’s ability to enjoy being on top.

Adam took a step back from Kurt, glancing between him and Blaine.  Kurt’s jaw was hurting from clenching down so hard and it felt like his chest was on fire as he glared at Blaine.  For his part, Blaine was blissfully unaware of the negative energy being directed at him while he talked to another student, beer in hand as he did that overly annoying hand talking thing which made splashed of the alcohol bounce threateningly upwards.

“I’m sorry Kurt… I just… I think if I play my cards right then maybe he’ll be interested… y’know?”

Kurt redirected his eyes back onto Adam who immediately stumbled backwards under the death glare.  He wasn’t going to have friendly conversation with a man who had just rejected him for his enemy.  This did not happen.  He was Kurt-freaking-Hummel.  When he kissed a guy, the guy kissed back.  It didn’t matter if he was gay, straight, or even taken.  This… this was the last straw.

 

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_All you SCU sports fans better be ready tonight!  Me and my Blaine baby are looking hella-fine!_   
_#SCUSpartans #Party tonight!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_You always look good though Santana!  You have the most amazing style… and I love the way you smell!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Brittany.  Stop it.  Wrong team._   
_#SpartansSuck_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_What do you mean?  I’m on the Sirens.  My uniform says so._   
_#Yay Sirens!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Exactly.  We don’t talk to Spartans._   
_#SpartansSuck_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Unless you’re being an insulting bitch that is._   
_#SirensSuck #SCUSpartans_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Only speaking the truth!_   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Whatever.  I’ll be the grown up here.  Thank you for the compliment Brit.  No thank you for the dumbassery Quinn._   
_#SCUSpartans #Sirens suck (Except for Brittany)_

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Extra! Extra!  Kurt Hummel’s not so hot anymore?  Read more at JBIatSCU.tumblr.com!_   
_#SCUSirens #JBIatSCU_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_That article is crap JBI.  Just because you say you saw a guy say no to making out with Kurt doesn’t mean anything.  Kurt is A-grade sexy and anyone who thinks otherwise has serious issues._   
_#SCUSirens #JBIatSCU is wrong!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Too bad he needs guys to be drunk to think that._   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Whatever Kitty.  Don’t see you with anyone._   
_#SpartansSuck #SCUSirens_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Maybe I don’t need to have a dick in me to feel good about myself._   
_#SirensSuck #SCUSpartans_

**_Samcconaughey_ **   
_Now come on ladies.  No need to be all mean to each other.  Can’t we all just…. get along?_   
_#Be Kind - Rewind_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Shut up Sam._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Shut up Sam._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Shut up Sam._

**_Samcconaughey_ **   
_Ouch._

 


	4. Chapter 4

Creamy white skin molded onto muscles that didn't consume the body nor were too lacking that they were hard to find. Nipples that just begged to be flicked with his tongue, and, god, that slightly sinister laugh that was meant to be flirty. When Blaine came to this party he hardly expected to be greeted with the sight of Kurt shirtless and laying back on a table - but there he was for the world, and Blaine, to see.

A jab from insanely long fingernails under the ribs brought Blaine's attention back to the world beyond Kurt. "He is the enemy." Santana hissed at him as Blaine cringed and turned his body back to face her. "Do not start getting ideas."

Blaine rubbed his side, knowing that he'd get a bruise. Santana always left bruises and he hated to think of what she did to her lovers the way she was rough with her friends. "I wasn't getting any ideas…"

"Oh no?" One perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose up while Santana shot her hand back out, prompting Blaine to cover his side instinctively. He didn't anticipate that she'd be poking at his crotch though and made a 'Hrk!' in surprise as he backed off a step. "Explain that."

Blaine glanced down at himself, a blush rising quickly in his cheeks. So maybe Kurt being shirtless did have a certain effect on him if the tenting in his slacks was any indication. He turned towards the wall a little more to hide the state his arousal and groaned. "I can't believe you…"

"Well I can't believe you. Honestly Blaine? Kurt? Of all the people you spring a stiffy over?"

He sighed, taking a sip of the beer getting warm in his cup. Blaine wasn't a big drinker, but tonight might be the exception if it took his mind off the faux pas he just made. "No kidding. Anyhow… hormones aside, there's another guy I've kind of got my eye on."

Santana's other eyebrow jumped up to join the other one. "Oh really Mr. "I-don't-have-time-to-sleep-let-alone-screw". Who's that?"

Blaine pointed across the room, Santana's eyes following. The man he was checking out had been just as cursed with hair as curly as his own and had a pretty angular face that was distinct in a room of stereotypically rectangle head shaped jocks.

"Jeremiah? Really Blaine? Here I thought Kurt was bad."

"What? Why? He's a nice guy…. he's gay too… and he's on that pet charity…."

Santana snickered beside him. "Oh come on. For starters - golf team. We do not date the golf team. They are invited to athletic events out of pity."

"Nothing wrong with golf…" Blaine murmured. Honestly he didn't know the sport. His dad had played back when they had been a part of the country club but Blaine didn't get the point of hitting a ball, walking after it, and then hitting it again.

"No. Perfectly fine if you're a retired sales guy who enjoys wearing polyester pants up to his nipples."

Blaine just rolled his eyes. Santana was nothing if not opinionated.

"Secondly - pet charities turn you on? Really? That has to be the lamest reason to be interested in anyone. You're not into beastiality too are you Blaine?"

"No…"

"Finally, that boy you're checking out has been making eyes at the same guy every gay guy, and half the straight girls for that matter, have been looking at all night."

"Who's that?" Blaine asked, eyes jumping around the crowd to find the casanova in question.

"Same guy you just popped a boner for dumbass."

Blaine blinked and glanced at Jeremiah, who was looking across the room at… Kurt. Fuck.

"What the hell?"

"Yeah. I don't get it either. Granted I like more tit than that boy has and he's sporting way too much junk in the front of his trunk for me too."

Blaine looked back at Santana, just shaking his head in disbelief. "Figures… Besides… I was right when I said I was too busy for a relationship. Would've just been nice to get some positive attention I guess. Certainly never got any in high school. Thought college might be different."

"It's been two months rookie. Give it a chance. Besides, you're staying on campus during Thanksgiving anyway right?"

Blaine nodded. "I thought it wasn't a choice… we have to cheer for the football games after all."

She shrugged, "There's always the odd exception to that rule so long as you have Coach Washington's permission. Anyhow, relax. Everyone hooks up Thanksgiving weekend. You'll get some ass… or give it… you know I've never really asked if you're a top or a bottom…."

With Santana peering at him expecting an answer, Blaine let his eyes roll so that she could see his annoyance. "God woman. You and stereotypes. Few gay guys are power tops or bottoms… I swear that shit was made up by women who fag hag over gay fictional couples because the only place that ever seems to show up is in fanfiction."

"So…. you…."

Clearly she wasn't satisfied with his answer so Blaine let out a sigh and said plainly, "Switch."

"Mmm… and here I had you pegged as a bottom only."

"Only in a pyramid baby." He winked, taking another sip of beer and enjoying that the comment gave her reason to chuckle.

His eyes went back to surveying the crowd. Kurt had moved from the table and was now held tight in a corner by some guy in a letterman jacket. The pair were swapping spit for everyone to see and Kurt had a leg held up and hooked over the guy's hip.

"Should I be worried that you're going to be jealous?" Santana cooed.

Blaine shook his head, but kept his eyes on the strangely erotic scene. He was vaguely aware that his body mirrored the position of the jock, whose face he couldn't see, as he ground up against Kurt. His breath quickened as Blaine watched the way Kurt curled his fingers against the back of the guy's neck, and Blaine was sure the beer he was drinking was responsible for the warmth flooding over his body and the hair rising on his arms.

"You've been caught."

Blaine blinked, confused by Santana's statement until his eyes travelled just a bit higher and connected with Kurt's. If he wasn't red already, he certainly would be now. Blue eyes had latched themselves onto Blaine despite the rest of Kurt being busy with the random letterman jacket guy, and instead of looking away, like he probably should have, Blaine just maintained the connection.

Kurt's head was tipped back against the wall now as his partner was working on making out with his alabaster neck. Positive now that the alcohol in his system was making the nerves in his body tingle, he let his eyes linger. Kurt never looked away from Blaine in turn, licking his own lips over for Blaine to see as his pupils filled up the sea of blue with darkness.

"Fuck off Fabray!"

The yell forced Blaine to look away and towards Kitty at the other end of the room. Toe to toe with the A-team blonde sidekick of Kurt, Kitty looked like her namesake - ready to pounce.

"Santana…?"

"Quinn 'accidentally' spilled her drink over the top of Kitty's head." Santana murmured to Blaine.

That was as much information as Blaine got before Quinn and Kitty went at each other. It was the most cliched of girl fights - slapping, clawing, shoving, hair pulling, and squealing. If it had been a couple guys a few punches would have been thrown and it would have been over fast. With girls though, they drew out the fight as long as possible without it being able to be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. At least most girls. Blaine had been at SCU long enough to see Santana in action and she didn't waste time on petty little actions like Quinn and Kitty were.

"Oh my fucking god! Quinn! Get the hell up!" Kurt roared as he advanced through the crowd which parted for him so he could get to Quinn and pull her back. "You're a Siren for fuck's sake! Act like one!"

Kitty was pulled back in turn by a couple of nearby Spartans. Both her and Quinn had their hair all out of sorts and tears in their skimpy dresses. Blaine was sure hookers were probably better put together than either of them were at the moment.

"She started it!" Quinn yelled towards Kitty, flashing her teeth as if that was any kind of threat.

"End it! Come on. We're done here!" Kurt huffed, keeping a firm grip on Quinn's wrist and tugging her back so he could retrieve his still absent shirt and then lead the way for them to go, Quinn not having a chance to get another word in.

The rest of the Sirens, and even some of the members of other teams, followed after them, prompting Santana to apologize to one of the Lamda Beta Phi guys named Sam for "cheerleader drama" causing a ruckus.

"Are you kidding?" Sam responded "Girl on girl fight makes this one of the hottest parties of the year so far!"

Blaine just rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that night. Apparently high school drama didn't just end in high school.

* * *

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Trouble in the hen house? Or cheer house should I say? Sirens leave the Lamda Beta Phi party in a huff after an altercation with Spartan cheerleaders! Read more on my blog!_   
_#SCUSirens #SCUSpartans #JBIatSCU_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_That party was completely lame anyhow. We tried to liven it up but Lamda Beta Phi's need to work on their guest lists._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Right. Because stripping down and having random guys lick the lint out of your bellybutton qualifies as "livening up a party". Get real Fabray._   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Didn't see any Spartans doing anything to make the place less dull. There's a reason Sirens have the most pep. We know how to bring the action._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_This is absolute insanity. Do you even hear yourself? You sound like a preteen having a tantrum. How the hell did you ever get into college?_   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Well, unlike some people, it was grades and not affirmative action policies._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Oh it is on now Fabray._


	5. Chapter 5

Quinn's little spat with Kitty was a godsend for Kurt.

After Adam's hurtful rejection, Kurt grabbed the first guy he saw looking at him and that had been a horrible mistake.

For starters, the guy ended up only being a lowly freshman on the swim team - definitely not of Kurt's usual caliber. Then it turned out the guy was either a virgin, straight and curious, or just plain awful at making out because he had no idea how to make Kurt feel good. There was entirely too much teeth and tongue going on and he couldn't align his lips with Kurt's to save his life. Then of course, there was the fact that Blaine had been watching.

Kurt as a sophomore in college was so different from Kurt as a sophomore in high school. In high school he would have never made out with random guys, let alone felt confident enough in himself to make any moves on anyone. He was a shy, insecure, baby penquin that couldn't even say the word cock without blushing ten shades of red. High school Kurt thought his relationships would be all romance and sweet kisses and hand holding. Cheer changed that. Popularity changed that. Maturity changed that.

He knew he looked good now, and he knew how to use that to his advantage. Quinn and Brittany had shown him how to flaunt his body, how to dress to impress, and, most importantly, how to make a man desire him and know it.

He could see by the way Blaine looked at him that Blaine wanted him. Maybe not consciously, but Blaine's eyes were blacked out and even from across the room Kurt could see way Blaine's lips parted, the way he lifted up his chin, and the slight thrust outward of his chest. Kurt had looked Blaine over as the swim team freshman nibbled awkwardly on his neck, wondering if he knew how to use that body of his like Kurt knew how to use his own. Blaine certainly couldn't be any worse than the inept make-out rookie Kurt had gnawing on his collarbone.

So when Quinn and Kitty started going at it, Kurt pushed the kid off him and went to Quinn's aid, happy to not have to make up an excuse to get rid of what's-his-name.

"I can't believe you… going at it so publicly with a freshman like Kitty. What's wrong with you?" Kurt scolded his friend as they left the party, pulling his shirt back on after speaking.

"She brought up things that happened in high school."

Kurt rolled his eyes and kept up the pace, knowing that he and Quinn had a long line of followers. They'd continue the party at whatever campus club they came by first. Bouncers were not above a little bribery to let the underaged in.

"You need to either get over it or deal with it in a better way Quinn. We have a reputation to consider and you can't let her drag you down like that."

"But I've been able to start fresh here…. Santana would have never said anything… but Kitty… I can't trust her."

"Well you're either going to have to try and trust her or have an awkward, but civil, conversation with her. We're heading into competition season and I don't want to see you benched for doing something regrettable."

The mostly inaudible grumble beside him was as much affirmation as he got out of Quinn.

"Hey Kurt!"

Brittany had bounded up to his other side, high ponytail bouncing behind her. "Why did we leave? I didn't even get to finish my game of scrabble!"

Kurt chuckled. "Too much drama."

"But you're a musical theater major. I thought you liked drama."

"Not that kind Brit. Anyhow, we'll find a new spot to continue the party. One with less Spartans to worry about."

"Is this about Santana and Kitty?"

Kurt nodded her way, noting that on his either side Quinn was still silently stewing. Stewing was good for her though. It meant she was thinking seriously. It was when she loud that she was irrational.

Brittany sighed, "I wish we could just be friends with them again."

"Maybe one day Brit… but it won't be today."

"I had the word quixotry ready to go on my game too…."

Quinn looked over, "That's not a word Brit."

"It totally is."

"Not."

"Kurt. Tell her it is."

Kurt just shrugged between them. "Not getting into another battle of what is and isn't a word. Use the internet to figure it out. I lost last time taking Quinn's side on zymurgy and before that I lost taking Brittany's side on vegate. I'm not getting into it anymore."

"You know what is a word? Desire. It means to covet, wish, or long for." Quinn said, a hint of playfulness in her tone.

"I think Brit and I both know that one Quinn. Get to the point you're wanting to make."

"As in, I saw the way you and Blaine were making eyes at one another. You desire him."

Kurt blanched and his jaw hung open for a minute before snapping at Quinn, "You don't even know what you saw!"

"Spartans can't date Sirens." Brittany said on his other side, quoting the unwritten rules of SCU cheer.

"I know that! Since when do I date anyhow?!"

"Just looking out for you Kurt. If I saw it, then it's possible someone else did too. You can't tell me to monitor myself if you can't do the same."

Kurt groaned and stared up at the stars overhead. "Fine. But I was just looking at him because he was eyeing me up. Not the other way around."

"Just watch it. Wouldn't want people to talk."

Kurt shook his head at the sky. It was SCU. It was cheer. People would talk regardless of whether or not anything or nothing happened.

* * *

 _ **KittysKorner**_ __  
Five more days until the first competition of the season! So excited!  
#SCUSpartans 

_**Quintessential**_ __  
Yeah! I hear losing out to the Sirens is something to definitely get excited about after all!  
#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck

 _ **AuntieSnix**_ __  
This year things are going to change Quinn. Mark my words.  
#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck

 _ **Quintessential**_ __  
How's that? You guys going to fumble and get out of sync even more than usual? Is that even possible?  
#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck

 _ **FondueForMew**_ __  
Statistically speaking, it is possible, but without specific parameters it would be difficult to estimate to what degree. Unless we had a database that accurately recorded individual Spartan skill levels and probabilities of failure, as well as any limiting factors, we could not reasonably hypothesize anything.  
#SCUMath

_**Quintessential** _ _  
It was a jibe Brit…._

_**FondueForMew** _ _  
Oh! Carry on then._

_**AuntieSnix** _ _  
Have I ever told you how endearing you are when you talk mathy Brit?_

_**FondueForMew** _ _  
Endearing… not as good as bewitching or captivating when it comes to improving your word score. I'll take it though._


	6. Chapter 6

Blaine had been told that if he thought the regular cheer season was busy that he wouldn't believe the hecticness of competition season. At the time he had just tucked that comment away to the back of his mind and didn't bother with it again. He was Blaine Anderson after all. Busy might have well have been his middle name. In high school he was in all the clubs Dalton had to offered and in a leadership role in most of them - all of that plus maintaining the highest grade point average in his year. How hard was it to cheer a little bit more?

It turned out it was insanely hard.

Coach Washington increased their regular practice schedule, as well as their cardio, dance, and gymnastics practices. On top of that, they were all given individualized diet plans that would allegedly help them improve whatever they were lacking in. For Blaine, that meant increasing his protein to improve his muscle tone - a problem since the cafeteria he had a pass for had a questionable lack of real meat (and the meat it did have had questionable origins). He couldn't phone home for extra money, so he had to take on some new piano students, which meant he had even less time to work on his school assignments.

He figured he was a week away from having coffee piped directly into his bloodstream the way he had been relying on it to stay awake and focused each and every day.

As the pace picked up in cheer, so did the rivalry between the two teams. Blaine thought it was pretty sad how Sirens and Spartans wouldn't even sit together in the cafeteria or talk to each other in classes they shared. It was a trickle down effect though. The coaches demonstrated the worst kind of rivalry and so the members of each team followed suite.

One day it was the Sirens' coach spiking Coach Washington's water bottle with a laxative, the next day it was Coach Washington returning fire by putting liquid heat in the other coaches' underwear while she was in the athletic faculty shower. Today, well today it was using the teams against one another.

They had booked the field and shouldn't have had to share it on this particular afternoon because the Sirens were supposed to be in the main gymnasium. However, as Blaine was working on making his catches, he saw them all being marched towards the group of Spartans who paused in their routine practice to look at the advancing Sirens being led by their coach who had Kurt on one side of her and Quinn on the other.

"Roz Washington! I present to you the team that will win all the trophies this year! You may as well just send all your pathetic little rookies home now because whatever hackneyed routine you have them working on is pointless!"

Coach Washington stormed over, hands on her hips as she went toe to toe with the other woman. "Oh yeah?! And what old-ass ensemble of flips and cartwheels set to whatever top forty hit have you come up with now? Let me guess. It's going to be something that's all focused on sex because the only outlet you have for that is your cheer team since your should-be retired vagina is too much sandpaper for any man to want into!"

At the start of the semester, Blaine's jaw would have been on the ground and his eyes would have been wide as saucers at the insult. Now he was used to his coach.

The Sirens coach just sneered and took a step back, "Just see how your little cheerleaders crumble under the force that is my Sirens Washington."

On cue, a boombox started playing a song Blaine immediately identified as Lady Gaga's Applause and the Sirens broke out into a well timed and synchronized display of jumps, flips, cartwheels, tosses, and dance moves all at once. It was impressive, but Blaine didn't let his interest show through. None of the Spartans did. They all put on faces that suggested they were bored or disinterested by the spectacle before them, even though Blaine knew well enough that they were probably cringing inside. The Sirens really were amazing.

The coach of the Sirens picked up on the stoic response of the Spartans and shot a glare to her leading cheerleaders - namely Kurt, Quinn, and Brittany. Something silent was communicated because that threesome broke out of the line and ahead of the rest of the group.

" _I live for the applause, applause, applause. I live for the applause-plause. Live for the applause-plase…."_

Oh. Wow. They were singing. That was new. The three of them together, clapping all together as if they had been practicing that move purposely for this movement, advancing further ahead until they were only feet away and Blaine could hear their voices over that of Lady Gaga's on the stereo. Flawless. Not a note out of place.

As they moved up, Kurt got closer to Blaine, and Blaine could see that same darkness in his eyes that he had seen the night of the party. The look was pure, unadulterated sex. Any hope Blaine had of keeping up the facade of being unaffected by the display went straight to hell the instant Kurt began thrusting as he sang.

" _Touch, touch, touch, touch now. Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo…"_

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the fact that it had been an hour since his last caffeinated drink, but Blaine lost his mind just long enough for Kurt to know he'd won when Blaine's hands immediately clasped together in front of his crotch - the universal sign of guys everywhere trying to conceal the fact that they had been aroused by what they were looking at.

It was all the validation the Sirens coach needed and she blew her whistle. The Sirens stopped what they were all doing immediately, smirked and high fived one another, and then left the field, Kurt casting one last look over his shoulder so Blaine could see the overly smug smile on his face.

Then Blaine had to endure his teammates and coach's wrath.

* * *

 _ **FondueForMew**_ __  
I still don't understand why we had to stop our routine on the field today. We were doing so well!  
#SCUSirens

 _ **Quintessential**_ __  
Because we made our point Brit. We rock. Spartans suck.  
#SpartansSuck #SCUSirens

 _ **FondueForMew**_ __  
Was that why we were doing it? I thought we were just getting some fresh air and the Spartans just happened to be there.  
#SCUSirens

 _ **AuntieSnix**_ __  
It's okay Brit. You were actually really good.  
#SCUSpartans

 _ **FondueForMew**_ __  
Aw! That's so nice of you to say!  
#SCUSirens

 _ **KittysKorner**_ __  
Did you learn nothing from Blaine getting chewed out this afternoon Santana?  
#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck

 _ **AuntieSnix**_ __  
Oh I learned something. We need to change what we're doing because sex definitely sells no matter what Washington says.  
#SCUSpartans

 _ **Quintessential**_ __  
No kidding. Though kudos to the Spartans for having such a *clearly* well-endowed male lead.  
#SCUSirens

 _ **AuntieSnix**_ __  
Yeah. We don't need to pack socks in Blaine's panties. That's for sure.  
#SCUSpartans

 _ **JBIatSCU**_ __  
Newsflash! SCU Spartans' Blaine Anderson has elephantitis of the penis! Witnesses report a larger than average growth seen today in the male cheerleader's pants during practice!  
#JBIatSCU #SCUSpartans

 _ **KittysKorner**_ __  
Really? Just…. really? Why am I even responding…?  
#JBIatSCU


	7. Chapter 7

Kurt only had five minutes to get out the door. Only…. five…. minutes…..

Generally it wouldn't have been an issue. He had showered, dressed, shaved, moisturized, and done his hair long ago. The problem was that he couldn't deal with the problem in his pants.

Fucking Blaine Anderson had to go and get so noticeably aroused when they were running through that routine. Kurt wasn't even sure why it was an issue for him. He'd gotten plenty of guys looking his ways sporting obvious stiffy's before and been able to forget about them. Why the hell was Blaine so different?

"Because… you… can't… have… him…." Kurt moaned softly to himself between panting breaths. His hand was buried in the front of his pants, having given up on trying to think about things that usually relieved any tension he had there. Nothing had worked. Not thinking about his grandmother, not thinking about that guy who had an obsession over trains, not even thinking back to the sex talk his dad had given him in high school. If anything, it all made it worse because everytime he tried to think of anything but Blaine Anderson, Blaine Anderson managed to pop up in his thoughts anyway with his stupid bashful face.

Kurt managed to finish up, clean up, and rush out the door with a minute to spare in the end, hoping that would be the end of Blaine Anderson fantasies trying to sabotage his schedule. Usually once he screwed a guy any fantasies he had of them would have died, but with Blaine, his hand would have to do.

"You're uncharacteristically late in your earliness." Quinn chimed as Kurt entered the classroom, taking a seat beside his old friend with a sigh.

"Just had something to take care of on the way here."

"You ready for this weekend? All the cheer and parties we could ever hope for." Quinn whispered over as the professor stood up in front of them and automatically began where he had left off the last class - something about business theory which Kurt would just read out of the textbook anyhow.

"If it's anything like last year's thanksgiving weekend - I am all ready for it. My dad was less than happy that I wasn't able to end up coming out like I initially promised him, but he's got to understand. It's the last weekend before competitions after all… and there's always a big game to cheer. Our halftime show is going to kick the Spartans' ass."

"Quite frankly, I think you want to do something more to a certain Spartan's ass…." Quinn whispered back with a wink in Kurt's direction. He could throttle her.

"You're a bitch."

"So are you."

They paid attention for the rest of class, as boring as it was. They needed to maintain a minimum grade point average to stay on the team after all, and for Kurt, with his scholarship, it was doubly important to stay on top of his schoolwork. He couldn't expect his dad to pay for all this.

Then Kurt was off to practice dance in the arts department open studio. He had an hour before his next class and he needed to make it count. Usually he was alone in the studio since it was a prime time for a lot of classes to be held, and he expected as much today, however, the gods of irony had something else in store for him.

Sitting at the piano, with another student, was Blaine-fucking-Anderson. Kurt quietly shuffled in, not to be dissuaded by his arch nemesis' presence in the room he had intended to use and began stretching on the floor, keeping a curious eye towards Blaine who had yet to notice his presence.

"Okay… before the next time we meet I want you to practice that song so it's perfect when you play it for me again… and remember…"

"Scales! Yeah Blaine, I got that." The other student said, grabbing their bag from the floor and standing up. "My parents will send you another cheque for next month."

Blaine nodded and turned then as his piano student departed, seeing Kurt and eyes going wide in surprise.

"So, you teach piano too." Kurt huffed, bending forward to clutch the tops of his toes.

"Yeah…." Blaine murmured quietly, eyes now focused on Kurt. "... it's my part time job I guess…."

"Mommy and daddy don't just get you whatever you want?" Kurt snarked, maintaining the stretch.

He watched as Blaine's too-big eyebrows bunched together. Was he confused by that remark?

"No… no they don't." Blaine finally answered. "I liked your routine by the way…"

Kurt had to chuckle at that. "Yeah. I noticed… as did everyone on the field."

Red filtered into Blaine's cheeks and his eyes shot away, "Well… god… I'm only human."

"You'll only ever be a Spartan if you make pathetic excuses like that." Kurt noted, stretching his legs apart from one another at a ninety degree angle and turning to reach his fingers out to his left toes.

"I'm okay with just being a Spartan." Blaine said softly, eyes still caught on Kurt.

"You lack ambition. Maybe that's why you're at SCU instead of Harvard or Yale."

Blaine shook himself out of his reverie, "Why would I be at either of those places?"

"Oh… I don't know…" Kurt mused as he switched feet "Because you're a trust fund brat?"

"I'm not…"

"Your last name is Anderson right?"

"Right, but -"

"Of the Anderson Co. of Ohio?"

"It is, but -"

"Trust fund brat."

Kurt got a sigh out of Blaine, and when he looked over Blaine was looking at the wall instead of at him now. "That's really not fair Kurt."

"You know what's not fair?" Kurt grumbled, standing up and stalking over at Blaine where he proceeded to wag a finger in his face. "Having to worry about some un-ambitious, curly haired trust fund brat who has probably never wanted for anything in this world usurping your position of top male cheer member just because he exists. I have worked damned hard to get where I am only to have you swoop in and try and take it from me."

Blaine's eyes danced back to Kurt's. Confusion still crossing his features, "Kurt… I'm not trying to take away your top spot. You can have it."

"It's not so simple though." Kurt stammered, still wagging that finger. "It's up to the coaches, and if Coach Sylvester decides she wants you, she'll have you. So let me make this clear for you. Lay. The. Fuck. Off. Stop trying so fucking hard. It's not like you need this the way I do. You can always get a job at your family business and still make tons of money just for existing. I don't have that option."

"But -"

"And learn how to take care of what's in your pants or start wearing tighter briefs. You'll embarrass all of us cheerleaders if you can't deal with a simple boner."

"I -"

Kurt didn't let Blaine finish, just went to grab his stuff and leave. He would have the last word if he was going to have anything around here.

* * *

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Check out my tumblr at JBIatSCI for the complete listing of all the parties this Thanksgiving weekend! Find out who's attending what!_   
_#JBIatSCU_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_All you need to know about the parties is that the Sirens will be hosting the most killer party of all at the Beta Beta Phi sorority house!_   
_#SCUSirens #BetaBetaPhi_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Everyone is welcome!_   
_#BetaBetaPhi_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Unless you're a Spartan!_   
_#SpartansSuck_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Aw, come on Quinn._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Yeah, come on Quinn._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_This is ridiculous. It's not happening. Go find your own sorority to stink up Santana._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_That's not nice Quinn._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Neither is what happened in high school._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Exactly._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Both of you can piss off._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Anyhow, everyone is invited. Even Spartans. Play nice Quinn._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I can't believe this..._


	8. Chapter 8

Blaine was furious, enraged, ired, incensed, livid. Kurt was just like every other elitist, self serving dick on this campus. How dare he presume so much of Blaine because of his last name. He didn't know a damned thing about Blaine and wouldn't even let him speak because he clearly thought what he had to say was more important than Blaine's explanation.

Well to hell with him. To hell with the Sirens. To hell with trying to play nice and be nice. If they wanted a fight, Blaine would give it to them.

"We need to stop doing this." Blaine declared loudly at the beginning of practice that day, drawing everyone, including Coach Washington's, attention.

"Doin' what precisely little boy?" Coach Washington asked, head bumping to either side as she spoke like a chicken pecking around for food. "'cause after your sorry display on the field I'm questioning even if we should be allowing you to say anything."

Blaine just averted his eyes from the coach, choosing instead to speak directly to the mass of red and black uniformed Spartans. "All of you are talking about trying to replicate what the Sirens do. If they sing, we should sing. If they do a certain move, we should do it. If they use a certain type of song, so should we. We're not them though!"

He took in a ragged breath, checking around to ensure that people were still listening before continuing. "I've only been on this team a few months but it's because so obvious that the reason we never beat the Sirens is because we're content to live in their shadow! We're not them! We shouldn't be trying to be them!"

"But they win!" one of the freshmen girls protested.

"Yeah! They win because they're the ones stepping out of their comfort zones to push themselves further while we're just trying to copy them. We're talented on our and and could be unique too. Instead of living in their shadow we should be casting our own!"

"So you think…." Kitty queried, head tilted to the side and brow lifted.

"We need to come up with our own style that reflects the talent we have. We're not winning because it's so obvious that we're trying to be someone or something that we're not!"

Murmurs shot up then, some between people that couldn't be heard from where Blaine stood and others that were directed at him.

"We should do more old school moves."  
"We should krunk."  
"I think there needs to be more uniformity in our hair styles."

By this point, Coach Washington had moved up to stand near Blaine, eyes wide and full of irritation. She hated when she was spoken over and evidently a freshmen getting everyone's attention easily disgruntled her to no end.

"So what's your solution tiny fruity baby?"

Blaine swallowed, shoving down all his nerves into the pit of his stomach. He was already taking a risk by speaking out, but now Coach was calling him on it and he knew he needed to deliver.

"Halftime performance. We get one, they get one - that's normal. However, instead of our usual replica of what they do, based on the videos I've seen of past year performances, we do something new and edgy. It's not in competition season so we don't have worry about the risk we'd be taking."

"And I take it you already have a plan in mind?"

Blaine nodded quickly. "I do."

"Fine. We try your idea. It fails though and you're off the team. It works and you're captain."

Blaine's heart shook his chest so hard that his ribs ached. God he was taking such a chance by doing this. He needed his scholarship. He wouldn't be able to afford school without it. Immediate worry and regret throbbed through his body. He should have just played it safe and gone along with things. It didn't matter whether or not his team was on top. He had let his anger over Kurt's behavior dictate his actions and now he was risking everything.

Coach Washington had him take over practice, watching appraisingly from the sidelines. Blaine worked the group hard, putting them through their paces and explaining his vision to the group. To their credit they took to it easily and worked their asses off for them, going well past their usual schedule practice time.

That was how it was for the rest of the week. Coach watched from the sidelines and Blaine led everyone in drills and practices, perfecting the routine he had only just come up with. His assignments for classes were put on hold, because without cheer he could have no classes in the first place. Priorities had to be set.

"Fuck. This is insane. For your benefit I hope it pays off." Santana said, siding up to Blaine the day before the big game after their last practice before their work would be shown for the whole of SCU to judge.

Blaine could only look at her and lift his brows, silently telling Santana that he hoped the same. Hell, he didn't just hope the same, he fantasized about it. It was a damn good thing he had the fantasy too because he wasn't sleeping enough to dream so that fantasy would have to sustain him until he could finally rest for longer than a couple hours at a time.

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_You Sirens are in for the surprise of your lives at the game tomorrow!_   
_#SCUSpartans_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Short of shitting yourself on the field, there is nothing terrible enough you Spartans could do to surprise us._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Wouldn't defecating on the field pose a health issue?_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_The only ones pooping themselves will be the Sirens who won't believe what we're doing._   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I highly doubt that, but enjoy whatever hallucinogen you're on._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_


	9. Chapter 9

Kurt wiped the sweat off his face with a towel tossed to him by one of the girls. All around him people were standing up in front of their seats and cheering. Some even calling for an encore - as if that was something that happened in cheerleading.

As expected, the Sirens were a spectacle to behold. Coach Sylvester had pulled out all the stops - confetti cannons, matching wigs for the girls, sparklers, and even fire hoops. Kurt had been in the thick of it all, and the sweat coating his body and gluing his uniform against his skin was testament to it. It was worth it though. It always was. He lived for the thrill of performing and loved being the center of everyone's attention.

Let the Spartans calm everyone back down now, Kurt thought to himself with an amused look as he watched the other cheer team file onto the field. If there was one thing they were good at it was lulling people to sleep.

"They figure they have something amazing to show the world." Quinn said with a smirk as Kurt leaned back against the short wall in front of the bleachers to observe the other team.

"Oh really?" Kurt said, his own skeptical bemusement causing a grin to stretch over his face.

"Yeah. They're more delusional this year than they were last year."

Kurt looked over the field. There was no props, nothing special about their uniforms. It was just the Spartans in their red and black uniforms looking as dull as ever.

There was a crackle, indicating the beginning of their music track about to start, and Kurt watched as everyone on the field held their position until they were cued to move.

Then there was music. Not the usual flighty pop or dance tunes that cheerleaders adhered to, but something with so much more bass and drums. Kurt glanced at Quinn, who was already looking at him, both with wide eyes. The Spartans were doing a routine up against hard rock?

Quinn was on her phone a moment later, pulling up one of those apps that identified the song being played while Kurt looked back to the field.

_"I must have dreamed a thousand dreams_   
_Been haunted by a million screams_   
_But I can hear the marching feet_   
_They're moving into the street."_

Not only were they using a rock song but Blaine Anderson was forgoing the usual background role he played, catching and throwing the girls around, and singing at the center.

"Land of Confusion, Disturbed cover." Quinn murmured over to Kurt as if that made any bit of difference now.

The song, mixed with the hard tumbles and hip-hop style dance moves on the field were getting people out of their seats again. Some banged their head in time with the beat, others sang along, but one thing was clear among them all - they were actually enjoying it.

_"This is the world we live in_   
_And these are the names we're given_   
_Stand up and let's start showing_   
_Just where our lives are going to."_

"Why the hell are they enjoying this?" Quinn muttered, eyes still wide as she looked at the response of the crowd. "There's nothing special about what they're doing…"

"Yes there is." Kurt grumbled, glowering over at the new frontman of the Spartans, basking in his glory at the center of the field. "They've taken what has always been cheer and fun and made it political and dark. They've juxtaposed themselves to us… We might have appealed to their sense of joy, but the Spartans have appealed to something the college crowd has in excess - attitude."

"Encore! Encore! Encore!"

Fuck those guys asking for encores in the crowd. They knew shit.

"Fabray! Hummel! My office! Now!"

If he could flatten his ears against his head and tuck a tail between his legs, Kurt would have. Coach Sylvester's voice suggested she was ready to tear them apart even though there was nothing they had done wrong. They would still be blamed. They were the head of the team and would have been seen as allowing the Spartans to match, if not outdo, them.

"We didn't know Coach!" Quinn immediately argued once they were settled in the seats across from the too-tall woman.

"Save your pathetic know-nothing excuses Fabray." Coach Sylvester spat as she looked back and forth between them. "You know what they've done?"

Both of them shook their heads even though Kurt had an inkling. It was better to just presume ineptitude and let Coach Sylvester spell it out in case he guessed wrong.

"They have changed the game. Not just any game either. MY game. You know how many national championships the Sirens have won?"

"Sixteen consecutive wins." Both Quinn and Kurt responded together.

"Sixteen…" Coach mused, shaking her head. "... and in all my time I have not seen anything like what the Spartans have just pulled. Rock songs? Yes. Heard those - but they were always paired with sub standard moves. Those dance moves? Also seen - but nowhere near as well executed. Singing along? Well I thought I had the trademark on that move but apparently they've decided to swipe that up before I could finish up with the patent office."

"It doesn't mean anything Coach. We're still champions. This was just a halftime show -"

"Stop right there my main gay." Coach Sylvester interrupted, finger out. "Those are the kind of excuses Sirens do not use. NO show is worth being less than the best for. I don't care if you're on the field, on a stage, or in a dumpster. The Sirens have been, are, and will be the best. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Both replied in unison again.

"You will ensure this does not happen again. The Spartans will never again get the same audience response we do. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, because I'd hate to have to drop either or both of you from the team."

Kurt sucked in a sharp breath. Oh. God.

"Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

They shuffled quickly out of her office and Kurt finally released the breath he had been holding, looking to Quinn who appeared just as pale as he was sure he was.

"They've got to go down."

* * *

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Following a sexually fueled fun riot courtesy of the Sirens at the halftime show, the Spartans showed their spunk by rocking out on the field. Could the rivalry between the two cheer teams be heating up? Check out JBIatSCU for more! Also check my photo blog for all the tasty photos of the cheerleaders in action!_   
_#JBIatSCU #SCUSirens #SCUSpartans_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_What the hell JBI! Half those photos don't even show the faces of the girls! They're all boobs and butt!_   
_#JBIatSCU_

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_When you have a point let me know._   
_#JBIatSCU_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Hey, aside from the odd guy in the shots, I like what I see in those pictures._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I like the pictures of the buttons._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Buttons?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Buttons?_

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Buttons?_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Yeah. The buttons. Here. link_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Brit, we're talking about pictures of the halftime show. Why are you on a sewing website?_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Lord Tubbington needs a new sweater. I'm just planning it._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Oh my…._


	10. Chapter 10

"God. You've got a shit eating grin even in sleep."

Blaine groaned and waved an arm out above him blindly, trying to hit away the voice beckoning him to wake up. How Santana got a key to his dorm room, let alone managed to get past the guy who was supposed to be ensuring non-residents didn't get into the dorm was beyond him, and definitely a source of aggravation for him.

"Come on. We are so celebrating tonight."

"I just want to sleep." Blaine cry-whined, curling himself up around his pillow on his bed where he had blissfully fallen down hours before. Coach Washington had slapped him on the back after their half time routine, called him captain, and told him to enjoy the rest of the weekend since competition season would be rearing its ugly head next week and she needed him front and center. If he wasn't going to catch up on sleep this weekend, he never would.

"Oh fuck no. Sleeping is for after you find some guy to screw your brains out. You deserve that after all." The bed bent a little as Santana sat on the edge, making Blaine roll a little her way despite his efforts to stay glued in place.

"I really just want sleep Santana. That's it and all. I will happily be celibate for a year if I can sleep this weekend."

"Fuck you are lame Anderson." She huffed, making no movement that would indicate she was going to just leave and let him be. "You might be captain of the Spartans now, but I'm still the self declared social committee leader and I say you're getting your ass out of this bed and into the tightest pants you own so some lucky guy to take them back off."

Blaine whined again, chucking his pillow across the room in surrender, "Oh my god Santana. What is your obsession with my getting laid?"

"I have a theory that the sooner you get some all so orgasmic relief that you'll stop tenting your tighty whities whenever Hummel walks by."

"I hate you." Blaine grumbled into his blanket, prying his eyes apart and staring angrily at the floor ahead of him.

"You love me. Now I'll give you five minutes to get ready before I come back in here and dress you myself." She chirruped, patting his ass, and damn near skipping out of the room.

He made sure he was ready in four minutes. The last thing he needed was Santana making commentary on his cock.

Blaine was escorted by Santana to one of the many frat parties - this particular frat being dominated by football players that had played, and won, that day. To say the level of inebriation and dancing and general joviality was high would have been an understatement.

As they passed by fellow Spartans, Blaine was high-fived and even hugged a few times. He knew he had done well when Coach had given him the honorarium of captain, but he didn't think his team would so easily accept a freshman as their commander and chief. Thankfully, it seemed they were more than okay with it so long as they were getting a response like they had earlier.

The rooms and even the yards were packed with people. There was no ability to move quickly through the crowd because space was limited and reliant on other people shuffling along too in order to traverse the sardine packing that was the party. Blaine had already gotten several unwelcome slaps on the ass by the time he had gotten to the kitchen as well as one very alcohol fueled kiss by some girl he didn't even know who had declared her eternal love for him.

Beer couldn't get into his system fast enough.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the king shit of turd mountain." Kurt stated plainly as they came face to face in the kitchen. Kurt was sitting up on the counter, surrounded by his Siren groupies who all turned and glowered at Blaine like he had stunk up the room.

"Hello Kurt. Nice routine today." Blaine could play this game. In high school he had lived by Abraham's old adage of being kind to your enemies because nothing infuriates them more.

"Piss off Anderson." Quinn snapped from her place aside Kurt's self made throne. "You just can't go and change the rules of cheer."

"Uh.. pretty sure I changed no rules. Everything we did followed the guidelines… now those sparklers you guys used… pretty sure those violated a few fire codes." Blaine didn't look at any of them, letting them waste their bitch stares as he poured himself a beer from one of the many kegs in the room. How the hell did the frat afford this?

Quinn was about to speak again when Kurt lifted a finger, silencing her. He slid off the counter and pushed his way through to Blaine.

"You may feel like you're on top right now Anderson…." Kurt said quietly, pressing a finger against Blaine's chest. "But I wouldn't get used to it. You see…." the finger slid down Blaine's chest, and it was all Blaine could do to not stare at it and let his adam's apple bob. "... I like being on top far too much… and I'm pretty sure you're okay with being on the bottom. So let things return to their natural place and we won't have to have any further…" Kurt licked his lips over and Blaine cringed, trying to inwardly talk his cock into softening since it was so eagerly try to stand up and listen to what Kurt had to say. A matter not helped by the way Kurt had drawn his finger down Blaine's torso and now hovered it near his hip. "... imbroglio…."

"Huh…?" Blaine managed to get out, less than articulately. He was so focused on the way Kurt's finger was being drawn back up his chest that he had only heard half of what had been said. Something about topping and bottoming…. and a place? God, did the alcohol already hit him that hard that he wasn't capable of stopping this?

"Blaine!"

He shook his head and looked to his side with a shudder of breath towards Santana, giving him her own bitch face.

Kurt chuckled and flicked his fingers lightly against the side of Blaine's neck. "Don't worry Santana. I won't hurt your pet. Just reminding him of his place…."

She continued to glare at him, and Blaine gave her his best apologetic look which went away with wide eyes and a dropped jaw when Kurt leaned in and whispered, "... on your knees. Me on top. Remember that."

"Oh for…." Santana may have not heard what Kurt had said, but it was clear she had a good impression as she grabbed Blaine by the hand and yanked him away, pulling him through the crowd and away from Kurt and his gaggle of girls. "I can not believe you. I look away for one minute and you're letting Kurt Hummel grope you up and down…."

"But I…. he…." Fuck. If his dick would just go down he might be able to form a coherent though.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You and him. Believe me…. when I said to wear tight pants, I didn't mean pants that left nothing to the imagination when you had a Hummel moment. Jesus Blaine. Come on. Let's get you laid already and get this issue fixed."

* * *

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Bets have already been made on cheer competition placements this year and Spartan street cred is on the increase if the bets being made are any indication! Was the half-time show a turning point for this perpetually low ranked team? Read my blog to find out more!_   
_#JBIatSCU #SCUSpartans_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_We kicked some serious butt out there! Sirens are in for a challenge with our new captain leading the charge!_   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck #Blaine4Captain!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_That was so a one time thing. You can't fix crap with a little bit of potpourri. It's good for a bit but wears away quickly._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Wouldn't know Quinn, never have taken a dump that reeked that bad. I'm sure you're used to it though._   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Oh screw off Kitty. That's the best you could come up? No wonder you're a Spartan._   
_#SCUSirens #SpartansSuck_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Least I don't screw everything that moves._   
_#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Stop! Honestly! Both of you - grow out of it!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Can't we all just get along?_


	11. Chapter 11

Getting a response out of Blaine was so terribly easy for Kurt, and something about it was so insanely empowering that Kurt felt himself become intoxicated by the feeling. He wanted more of that. The guys he'd been with before, they'd all been into him, but they hadn't ever challenged him the way Blaine was. He didn't have to work for them.

"Nice job teasing that asshole." Quinn muttered to him as he watched Santana drag away the boy, Kurt's eyes glued to Blaine's ass and his own cock twitching in his pants. Jesus. There was really nothing left to the imagination there.

"I'm a pro." Kurt said absently back to her, watching as Santana directed Blaine to another guy in the room and clearly gestured to them both that they should get to know one another, causing both to blush as she left them.

"Now what? I assume this is all part of some master plan you have to psych him out or something…"

Kurt just nodded. In truth he had no plan. He had just gone along with things for the moment and now he was wondering how much work he'd actually have to put in to get Blaine out of those pants.

"Hi Kurt." A new voice greeted him and Kurt looked over at a vaguely familiar looking guy with ringlets of curls and a hopeful smile.

"Hello…." Please supply your name, Kurt thought to himself, I sure as hell haven't filed you away as someone I needed to remember.

"Jeremiah. I'm Jeremiah. Golf team."

"Oh." Kurt let his eyes wander back towards Blaine, instantly irritated when he found that in that moment Blaine had disappeared from view.

"I was wondering if… uh… you'd like to see a movie sometime… or something…"

"Golf team right?" Kurt asked, eyes still flitting over the crowd as he searched for Blaine.

"Yeah. That's right."

"No."

He could hear the girls snicker behind him. In the hierarchy of college sports, the only thing lower than golf players were mascots and water boys and girls. Why this guy thought he had a shot was beyond Kurt.

"Oh… uh… okay. Nice routine today."

"Thanks."

"You looked really good out there."

Exasperated, Kurt's eyes flashed back to Jeremiah. "I'm looking for someone and clearly not interested. Go."

Jeremiah's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out, his eyes unblinking through it all. He wandered back wordlessly, and Kurt sighed and went back to seeking out his Spartan counterpart. He couldn't have gotten lost that quickly.

There was a break in the crowd and then, Kurt finally saw Blaine again. Now he had two guys talking to him, one of which was the guy Kurt had tried to make a move on a few parties ago. Adam was it? The asshole that rejected him because he wanted to make a play on Blaine. Well, that would never do.

Ignoring the questioning calls of his girls, Kurt shoved his way through the crowd until he was again face to face with Blaine and pushed right between the two guys he had been talking with. "I wasn't done talking with you."

Blaine blinked a few times, looking at Kurt with perked up eyebrows. "I was done listening to you though."

"Bullshit. You're done when I say you're done."

"Uh… should I…?" One of the guys made a backwards thumb motion as he posed the question.

"No. It's fine. Kurt was leaving." Blaine said flatly, eyeing Kurt steadily. Whatever power Kurt had over him back in the kitchen had apparently been lost.

"I'm not actually, and you should." Kurt said, just as concretely. The guy took the cue and made a small wave to Blaine before leaving. Adam, on his other side, made the 'call me' gesture with his hands before going, earning him even more of Kurt's hatred.

"Why can't you just let me enjoy my evening?" Blaine sighed, sipping his drink and pointedly looking away from Kurt.

"Why can't you just accept your place in the pyramid." Kurt huffed, stepping closer and closing any gap left between them.

"Clearly I'm some kind of overachiever. Must be because I'm such a trust fund brat."

Kurt rolled his eyes as Blaine used his words against him. "Don't pin this back on me. There's an order at things at this school. People in the Sirens worked hard to get there. You screw around with things and everything they've worked for will be for nothing."

Blaine turned his head and looked steadily at Kurt. "You really believe that? So what? Spartans are just supposed to roll over and submit to Sirens?"

Kurt knew that if there was any way to get what he wanted, it was by using his sexuality. He let a playful smile stretch his lips over his face and crawled his fingers up Blaine's chest like before, and though Blaine tried to pull away, the room was too crowded for him to do so. "I have a feeling you like submitting…"

"Stop! Kurt!" Blaine choked, beer splashing over the edge of the plastic cup he was holding as he tried to put his own hands between them both to push Kurt away. "I'm not one of these googly eyed guys around here. I'm not going to do what you want just because you…. do…. that."

Kurt wasn't naive, but he certainly knew how to play the part as he batted his lashes and eyes Blaine. "What?"

"You know what." Blaine grumbled, taking a sip of his drink once more.

Kurt took in a heavy breath. He wasn't used to guys rejecting him, and it had happened now twice in the past month. Did he let his beauty regiment suffer somehow? Was there something he was missing when he looked in the mirror?

"What's it going to take then for you to lay off?"

Blaine shook his head, "I don't follow."

"What do you want in order to keep the Spartans in line. You guys can have all the second place trophies you want but Sirens need to stay in the top spot."

That got an unexpected laugh out of Blaine. "Really? You want to barter for that?"

Kurt folded his arms over his chest. "Why else would I bother with you?"

The laughing stopped and Kurt watched, a pang shooting through his heart, as Blaine's face fell. Kurt was used to being mean. Hell, he hadn't even flinched with shooting down the starry eyed golf player earlier, but something about the doe eyed cheerleader in front of him was screwing him up in ways he didn't understand.

"I'm not going to suck just so you can be on top."

Blaine's whisper was deliberately spoken slow and with a much deeper voice than Kurt had heard out of him before, one that went straight to his own groin. Fuck if this kid couldn't play at Kurt's own game.

"Fine. I was willing to give you and your team a bit of mercy, but now you're all just going to hurt and be humiliated." Kurt said, taking in a breath to steady himself before storming off. He wasn't sure how he was going to deliver on the threat, but damned if he wasn't going to try.

* * *

_**JBIatSCU** _ _  
sooooo drunk…..wooooo! let's go streaking everyone!_

_**AuntieSnix** _ _  
Well, that was an unpleasant end to the party. Naked, furry, jew fro everywhere… and yet… not._

_**FondueForMew** _ _  
_ _**I didn't know boys could have two bellybuttons.** _

_**AuntieSnix** _ _  
What?_

_**FondueForMew** _ _  
That guy, he had an innie on his tummy and one where his peepee should've been._

_**Quintessential** _ _  
Oh…. Brit…._


	12. Chapter 12

"What the hell do you mean you're not trying out for the stunt team?"

Blaine winced and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Good day to you too Santana."

"Fuck good days. You're like… prime real estate now but your name isn't on the signup sheet to try out. What the hell man?"

Blaine sighed and stretched himself out. It was the beginning of practice and he had spent all of his non existent free time trying to perfect the routine for their first competition. He was tired, stressed out, and presently annoyed after his mother guilted him for not calling more often earlier that day, and the last thing he needed was Santana bitching at him.

"I have too many commitments already Santana. Maybe you're in college to play, but I'm here to get a degree."

"Fuck you. I'm just as busy as you are if not more."

He held up a palm, "Sorry. Just… god… I don't need one more thing eating away at my time."

"Look. All I'm saying is that Kurt does it and he seems okay. He's co-captain of the Sirens, lead on the stunt team, and he's in every freaking production the musical theater department puts on - usually in a lead role. Maybe you should swap notes with him."

"Fuck off Santana." She always knew which buttons to push to make his agitation increase to sheer frustration.

"I'd rather you fuck someone to get rid of your attitude. You used to be pleasant you know."

"I'm fine." He stressed the last word, ultimately showing just how not fine he was. He knew the stress was slowly causing him to unravel. He could feel it in his bones. He just didn't know what to do about it.

"I have collected no less than ten numbers for you of guys who are ready and willing to rock your world. I have tried to set you up on five dates. I even sent a hooker to your dorm and you turned him away!"

Blaine grimaced at the memory. It wasn't the way he was raised. Plus the guy at the door was definitely not his type - too tall, too burly, and way too much cologne. "I'm not like Kurt. I thought we established that Santana. I can't just screw off my stress with no regret. The same way I can't seem to manage my time."

"Well maybe if you just dropped down to one major instead of trying to double major…"

"I can't. I need to make the most of this scholarship."

"You're impossible to try and help - you know that?"

Blaine sighed, nodded, and looked back to Santana. "I know."

Their first competition had been that past weekend, and despite Blaine's efforts the Spartans had only managed to snag second place behind the Sirens. The smug look that had been on Kurt's face when he looked Blaine's way made a long sleeping rage fizz up inside him. He had worked so hard, done everything he could think of, and still the Sirens, and Kurt along with them, had ruled.

The Spartans hardly held it against him. It was a competition they had traditionally come in fourth or fifth place at so second was still a big step up for them all. It wasn't enough for Blaine though. He wanted to, needed to, get that stupid smile off of Kurt's face and the only way he knew how to do it was by beating him.

After their face to face at the party, Blaine had been resolute about not attending any more gatherings lest he end up having to deal with Kurt again. Besides, he needed the time to work on assignments, choreography, and teaching piano lessons. Parties couldn't be factored in no matter how much Santana bitched at him. He was the captain now, so he figured he could get away with it.

What he couldn't get away with though, was ignoring the vile pranks. It was like every awful B-grade film Blaine had ever seen about college. One of the girls had a skunk snuck in her dorm which sprayed her and she ended up stinking for a week solid and having to change dorms. Another of the girls had a bucket full of pee dumped on her head when she walked out from under the overhang of a building. Underwear had been stolen from the locker rooms and put up on the flagpole and then some of the guys on the team had their own underwear soaked in liquid heat. Blaine could only imagine how much that hurt.

They knew the Sirens were to blame, even though no evidence could be pinned on them directly. Blaine had managed to convince the Spartans not to sink to that level so far, but he didn't know how long he could keep convincing them that it was the right thing to do. Hell, he didn't know how long he could convince himself it was the right thing to do.

"We should go to the play… all the Spartans. Just to screw with Kurt's head." Santana suggested after practice.

"Midsummers Night Dream? Pass. Not a fan of Shakespeare."

"Come on Blaine. He'll think we're there to mess with him when he sees us in the audience. We don't actually have to do anything but watch though. Total mindfuck."

Blaine rolled his eyes, "I don't have time to scratch myself let alone see a college production about fairies."

"Aww… and here I thought you loved fairies." She winked at him.

"Santana…."

"Fine, fine… no teasing. Already bought the tickets though."

He groaned. The decision had been made for him it seemed since he wasn't about to let her waste her money. Maybe he could work on his statistics assignment during the intermission.

Hours later, dressed in something passing as semi-formal, Blaine was escorting Santana to the SCU theater. She had done herself up quite nicely for what was otherwise a casual event and the instant Blaine saw the program when they sat down he knew why.

"Brittany is in this."

"Oh really?"

"You knew that didn't you."

"You presume an awful lot Blaine."

"Sirens can't date Spartans."

"God Blaine…." She elbowed him in the side, "Don't quote the rules to me. I know that."

He shook his head and looked up as the lights dimmed and the spotlights went to the stage. Of course Santana had an ulterior motive. He had seen how much Santana had been eyeing up Brittany just as much as she had seen him react to Kurt.

Whatever. They were there now.

Despite the lack of glitz and glam a big budget production might have, Blaine had to admit the play was very well done. The casting was spot-on, everyone knew their lines and was able to deliver them fluidly, and Kurt, well… Blaine had never seen this side of Kurt before.

Playing as Puck, Kurt was clad in tighter clothing than he sported at cheer - leaving nothing to the imagination. He used his gymnastics skills to tumble and flip when he entered into a scene, drawing everyone's attention and keeping it when he spoke just like Blaine had always imagined Robin Goodfellow to sound in his head when he studied the play in high school. The Kurt he saw on stage smiled more, a part of playing the trickster, and had the best comedic timing.

He also didn't even flinch or lose his place when his eyes caught onto Blaine's, noticing him in the audience. So much for mindplay.

"Wasn't she just wonderful?" Santana gushed as they stood to applaud at the end of the play along with the rest of the crowd.

"She had one line Santana…."

"And it was the best line in the whole of the play!"

He rolled his eyes, tucking away Santana's reaction to Brittany's portrayal of Mustardseed for later. She couldn't call him on being obsessive over Kurt if that was how she reacted to Brittany.

"Why did you come here?"

Blaine hadn't expected Kurt to catch up with him as Santana went to congratulate Brittany. In fact, he was rendered speechless by the man in front of him.

"To… see the play."

"Bullshit. You're trying to mess with me."

Blaine let out a slow breath, reminding himself to stay calm. "That was what Santana suggested but I think she's here more for Brittany and I got dragged along because she already bought the ticket."

"And trying to mess with me is just a nice little cherry on top of your shit sundae hmm?"

"Kurt… come on… just… look. I'm not into pranks and mindgames. That's your thing. I'm just trying to get through college."

"Sure you are."

"Nothing I say is going to make you believe me…." Blaine sighed, pressing a finger to his temple. "So why am I even trying…"

"Winners don't just try. They do. That's why you only got second place."

Blaine couldn't have rolled his eyes harder if he tried. "Whatever… anyhow. You did a good job. I'm going now."

Blaine turned and took a step when he was interrupted by:

"Really?"

It wasn't said with the usual venom that came out of Kurt. No, this time it was a true question, and Blaine peered back just to make sure it really did come out of the same man he had just been talking to. "Really what?"

"You really think I did a good job?"

Blaine just nodded, "Yeah. You may have actually made me enjoy Shakespeare for the first time in forever."

"Huh…"

Blaine kept walking then, looking away from Kurt as he went to collect Santana from Brittany. Whatever game Kurt was playing at now, Blaine wasn't going to take the bait.

* * *

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_All tickets sold out for all three showings of A Midsummers Night Dream! Who's the hottest fairy? Read my blog to find out._   
_#JBIatSCU_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Not even a contest. Brit as Mustardseed._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Aw! Thanks Santana!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Barf._


	13. Chapter 13

“What the -”

Kurt was tossing his clothes this way and that.  His dorm room looked like a tornado had passed through it and he was sure he probably looked a little psychotic himself.  Quinn barging in and standing there wide eyed in the doorway didn’t help his current frame of mind.

“What do you want Quinn?”

“Are you okay Kurt?”

“Can’t find….”  He dumped his laundry bin upside down. “... my fucking caffeine pills.”

“Oh jeeze.  Is that all?  Here…”  She grabbed a tiny pill bottle out of her purse and tossed them to Kurt who eagerly caught them and opened them up, swallowing two of the pills dry.  “Honestly.  Calm down.”

“Can’t calm down Quinn.  I have three assignments to do this weekend, and, oh, a cheering competition.  There’s stunt tryouts on Monday, and the heel came off of my brown, lace up boots.  Calm is not even in my vernacular right now.”

“Fuck Kurt.  Kids are dying in Africa of malnutrition and AIDS and malaria and shit and you’re freaking out because things are so good for you that you have time to worry about a damned boot.”

He sighed, closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths.  She was right.  There was so much that could be worse.  He could handle this.  He was a champion.

He just needed to be able to keep himself awake for it all.

So he did.  Popping pills every few hours to avoid crashing so he could finish his school work, practice his dance moves, call his dad to check in, attend cheer practice, go to classes, fix his boot, and work on his balance.

Oh, and somewhere in there he ate too.  Some rabbit food from the cafeteria.  Everything else they served had questionable origins and he didn’t want to risk getting Montezuma’s revenge before a competition.  

Caffeine pills were Kurt’s godsend.  It was everything he needed from coffee without having to waste time drinking it too.  They were legal and everyone he knew used them.  It was the only way to stay on top of things at SCU.  As Quinn would say - “We can sleep when we’re dead!”

Saturday they performed their routine after being stuck on a bus for three hours.  As always, it was flawless and full of sex, sweetness, and every trick they could get away with to catch the eyes of the judges.  Usually they didn’t bother to watch the Spartans perform, instead spending the time between acts resting and gossiping, but given how the Spartans had been turning things around for themselves the Sirens opted to stick around in the crowd and pay attention to what the Spartans had to offer.

The last competition they had been at was when the Sirens had come in second place.  Their routine was mesmerizing, but thankfully one of their girls had misstepped and lost them points.  Kurt and Quinn had pushed the Sirens hard after that.  They couldn’t rely on the Spartans faltering to secure their top position.  Coach Sylvester would have their heads.

“Are they playing….”

“It’s Broadway tune.  Fuck.  We’re in New York City and one of the judges is a culture critic for the Times and …. shit!  How did we not think to do this?!” Kurt gasped, hands splayed open to either side while Quinn looked at him, lips pursed.

“I think it’s fun!”  Brittany said from his other side, bouncing to the beat of La Vie Boheme.

“It’s either going to go over very poorly…. or very well…”  Kurt sighed, leaning forward to pay close attention to the moves the Spartans were making.  Had they been tipped off about the judge or were they just lucky?  The Sirens hadn’t even sung in this competition and half of the Spartans were singing for their number.  In that category alone they would win points over the Sirens.

“I think everyone likes it too!”  Brittany said as the set ended and everyone got up and clapped and cheered - herself included.  Kurt and Quinn were beyond trying to restrain her, looking at one another with worry.

They were in such shit.

“So, I’m going to be drinking tonight.”  Quinn sighed, turning and walking herself away for the moment.

“Yeah….” Kurt weakly murmured as he looked back and watched as Blaine and his cronies high fived and left the floor so the judges could deliberate.  This was so bad.  The pranks the Sirens had been pulling hadn’t done a damned thing to upset the Spartans.  If anything it seemed to make them more cohesive.  Add to that that the Spartans didn’t return fire and the Sirens looked like complete assholes.  Tactics needed to be changed.

“Brittany?”

“Yeah Kurt?”

“You like Santana hey?”

Brittany nodded quickly.  “She’s so nice… so pretty.  She made such a fuss out of me being Mustardseed in the play and came to all three shows even though those tickets cost so much… I miss her you know.  We all used to be such good friends in high school….”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Listen.  The rule about Sirens not dating Spartans?  Screw it.  You like Santana - go make sweet lady love with her.”

Brittany tilted her head to the side and looked over at Kurt, “Really?  You can decide that?”

Kurt nodded, “Oh yeah.  I’m the captain right?”

“Right… but…”

“Look!  She’s over there!”  He pointed.  “Go congratulate her and ask her out!”

“I…. okay.”  Brittany skipped off to intercept his ex-friend and Kurt sighed.  He had no idea where he was going with this scheme, but he knew he needed to take things to the next level of stirring shit up.  

“You did well.”

Kurt blinked and looked over his shoulder, spotting the curly haired Spartan bastard behind him.  When had he snuck up?  No matter…

“Should I be saying thanks?”

Blaine shook his head, taking a swig of water from his water bottle in hand.  “No.  Just wanted to let you know.”

Kurt furrowed his brow, his mind racing but nothing sticking to the front as he looked at Blaine who was looking back at him with those sickly sweet caramel eyes.  

Screw it.

“You did well too.”

That seemed to catch Blaine off guard - his eyebrows both jettisoning to the top of his forehead. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Huh.  Well then…”

“Competitors!  Please come to the floor for the results!”  A loudspeaker buzzed over them.

“Good luck.”  Blaine offered, walking back through the crowd to stand with the Spartans.

“Do I want to know?”  Quinn asked as she returned to his side and walked along with him.

Kurt shook his head.  “I’ll let you know when I do.  Let’s just see how we placed.”

“In third place… the Tech T-Rex’s!”

A cheer went up and a gaggle of bouncey girls with a pair of more somber looking guys went to accept their trophy.  Kurt made a mental note to never pair teal with silver as this particular team had done.  It was so hard on the eyes.

“In second…. the SCU Spartans!”

Kurt breathed out a sigh of relief, watching Blaine and his group go to graciously accept their award and shake hands with the presenter.  They all looked quite pleased with themselves despite the fact they hadn’t managed to shake the Sirens down, which meant…

“In first, the SCU Sirens!”

Kurt put on his show smile and led his team up to take the award.  The rest was a blur.  There had been so many competitions, so many trophies, that Kurt didn’t see one win as unique from the others.  Once he knew they had placed first, it was all the same.  Gracious nods to their competitors, handshakes with the dignitaries and judges, holding the trophy up high for a photograph, making a few comments for whatever news media agency had shown up, and then the best part - taking the bus home.

It was the one time and place he could just relax for awhile.  The competition was over and the next one was a whole two weeks away - far enough down the line that he didn’t have to stress over it quite yet.  

Except his great, as yet to be finished plan backfired on him.

“Hey Kurt!  Since you said it was okay, I’m going to ride back to SCU on the Spartan bus, but to make room one of their members had to come on our bus.”

Brittany’s little announcement had everyone on the team glaring at him, but he wasn’t about to freak out or lose face.  “Fine.  Who is it?”

“Blaine.  Such a nice little elf don’t you think?  Anyhow!  See you back at the college!”

Kurt groaned, ignoring the fire he was sure Quinn was trying to shoot out of her eyes at him and dropped his face in his palms.  So much for relaxing on the trip home.

 

* * *

__** FondueForMew   
** So excited!  Our teams are both doing super mega awesome good!   
#SCUSirens #SCUSpartans

__** KittysKorner   
** Just you wait Brittany.  Soon we’ll be taking the number one spot and you’ll be number two!   
#SCUSpartans #SirensSuck

_** FondueForMew   
** Hey!  I’m not poop!  That’s mean! _

_** KittysKorner   
** Ugh… that’s not what I meant. _

_** Quintessential   
** Was rude regardless. _

_** AuntieSnix   
** Be nice Kitty.  Brittany’s my number one regardless of which team she plays for. _

 


	14. Chapter 14

Santana was a complete and utter bitch. She had sidled up to Blaine as he was about to get on the bus, informed him that Brittany would be joining the Spartans on the bus and that he'd have to go on the Sirens' bus since they only had one of those stupid mini-buses and there wasn't enough room to house the extra person Santana was so keen on bringing aboard. She gave him no chance to retort, protest, or question the sudden change of plans, but shoved him (and his bag which she had grabbed off the bus prior to him walking up to it) to the Sirens' bus and waved bye to him as he stood there in stunned silence.

"You know, for only a hundred bucks more, the Sirens could get a larger bus and then you wouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing." Kurt's all too sure and smooth voice said behind him.

Blaine shook his head, still trying to negotiate his new transportation plans in his mind as he looked back to Kurt. "What's the negotiate? Why is Brittany coming on my bus? Why do I have to get put out for her? I thought there was this whole unspoken rule about not associating with the enemy!"

Kurt chuckled and grabbed Blaine's bag from him before he could argue. "There is, but it seems like all the rules we knew about in cheer are being broken. Come on. I'll let you sit with me."

As if it all couldn't get anymore confusing, Blaine now had to wrap his head around Kurt suddenly being nice to him. He followed Kurt on the bus, being met with icy stares from all the black on red wearing Sirens already sitting and feeling very out of place with his red on black uniform.

"Top bitches get the back of the bus." Kurt noted ahead of him, causing Blaine to swallow back his discomfort as he kept wading through the sea of girls and occasional guy to the back. He always hated riding in the back of the bus as a kid. Every bump was ten times as worse in the back as it was in the front and he didn't have the strongest stomach.

"What's the hobbit doing here?" Quinn snarked as Kurt slipped into the very last seat and patted the space beside him. She sat across from him and her look made the glares from the other girls look downright warm in comparison.

"Brittany's on his bus. We traded."

She furrowed her brow together, clearly just as confounded as Blaine was about the situation and then shook her head. "This is not going to make anything better."

Kurt shrugged, "Whatever. Anyone has a problem with it then they can take it up with me. Not like Coach will know anyhow since she insists on driving that ugly old car back and forth on trips."

Quinn huffed, ending the conversation by pulling on a pair of headphones and resting her head back to listen to whatever was being piped through them. Kurt patted Blaine on the knee and leaned back against the bench chair as well.

"Why are you being nice?"

Kurt snickered at that and his smirk made its appearance as he regarded Blaine. "You saying I'm not usually a kind and lovable person?"

"Not really no. In fact, you're bitchier than my mother when she's having a hot flash."

Kurt shrugged, "I don't have a base of reference for that. My mom died when I was eight and my step-mom hasn't gone through menopause yet."

"Well you'll know when she does." Blaine said, recalling his mother's last menopause induced rant when he had gone home to visit just before the start of the semester. "And I'm sorry about your mom."

"Don't fucking be sorry. I hate it when people say they're sorry. It wasn't your fault. I'm just stating a fact."

Blaine drew his hands up in surrender. "Sorry! I mean…. sorry about being sorry."

Kurt shrugged again, looking out the window at the passing landscape. "Whatever."

Blaine sighed. He was being given a rare opportunity here and he should be taking advantage of it even though the desire to withdraw and just spend the trip plugging into his own music was high. "I suppose you're trying out for the stunt team?"

"I am… though it's really just a formality. I'll be on the stunt team."

Blaine couldn't help but mimic Kurt's smirk at the confidence that was just so Kurt. "Santana's mad at me because I won't try out."

That seemed to catch Kurt's interest as his head turned away from the road and back onto Blaine. "Why not? You're decent enough."

"I… thanks… but I just don't have the time."

"What the hell could possibly be eating up your time? It's not like you're any different from the rest of us with school and cheer."

Blaine shrugged up his shoulders a little. "I have a double major so I have an extra course on top of the usual load and I need to tutor piano to help pay for things… I don't know how you do it all plus drama performances. I barely get any sleep."

"Using caffeine pills or speed?"

Blaine blinked and shook his head.

"Well get some. That's how everyone else does it. Anyhow, why do you need to tutor piano? Isn't the great Anderson fortune helping you line your bed with bills?"

"I...er… no. Actually Anderson Co. isn't attached to my last name anymore even though the corporation that bought it out kept the name."

Kurt tilted his head. "No trust fund then?"

Blaine let out a soft sigh and nodded as he echoed "No trust fund."

"Huh. Interesting."

Not too bad, or that's upsetting, or how's your family now - but, simply, interesting. "Why interesting?"

"I totally had you pegged as one of those upturned nose, polo playing, yacht club elitists."

Blaine let out a short giggle. "Well I did play polo back in the day, but we never had a yacht. Lack of places to float a boat in Westerville."

Kurt eyebrows arched a little, "Duly noted. So SCU then because…."

"... of the male cheer scholarship. It was the only way I could get college paid for."

Kurt nodded a little, eyes still caught on Blaine who could swear he saw the thoughts floating through those blue globes. "You cheered in high school?"

Blaine shook his head. "No. I went to an all boys school in fact. Never cheered before pre-season training camp this summer actually."

That made Kurt's blue eyes go wide. "What?!"

"I was allowed to audition based on the fact that I had experience in dance and gymnastics, and because there were no opportunities for me to be in cheer during high school…. it was kind of a technicality but it got me in anyhow."

"So you're telling me that I worked my ass off in high school cheer from sophomore year to senior year to get my scholarship and you slipped in and got the same damned scholarship because of a fucking technicality?"

Blaine's ears warmed as they went red. "Ah… yeah?"

"Fuck." Kurt returned to looking out the window.

"I know it must seem really lousy on my part… it was just the only way I could get in anywhere… I wasn't good enough at anything else for any other scholarships. I mean, I did okay in all my classes and sports… but I was never the top pick in them."

"You know, cheerleading is one of the most underpaid professional sports and yet has the highest rates of injuries and fatalities among college athletics. To go into this, especially as a guy, is showing a lot of commitment. Now once college is over I'll be done with it… I have other plans… but I work hard at what I do and now I'm kind of wondering why the hell I did because I feel like the whole thing has been cheapened by your ability to get on without any experience."

Blaine sighed. Going into this conversation he had had such good intentions. Now though it was clear he had only made things worse. Time to lay it all out on the line….

"Kurt. My family has nothing. Capital N nothing. A competitor sprang up out of China that was able to outbid the family company on all the contracts they had held until that point and my family ended up going bankrupt. I had trust funds… but I opted to cash them out and use them to help my parents so they could afford a house after they lost theirs. I need a college degree in order to get a job where I can be financially stable so I never have to worry about losing everything again… and the only place I could find a scholarship was SCU. Am I taking advantage of a technicality? You bet I am… but I'd do it over and over again to make sure my family is taken care of. In the grand scheme of things… you might hate me for it, but that's peanuts compared to what the end result of it all will be for me…. security."

All that and all Blaine got in response was a roll of the eyes from Kurt who turned back to the window once again as soon as Blaine was done talking. Blaine was sure Kurt didn't have a heart at that point, or if he did it was consumed with cheer and cheer alone.

"I was supposed to go to New York for theater… my dad had a second heart attack though and I didn't want to be far from him. This was the only other place where I could get a scholarship and be close enough to visit him… even though it seems like I never do with how hectic things always are… You think I don't understand the need to be loyal to your family Blaine? You think you're the only one with shitty circumstances? I thought I'd be done with cheer and all these catty bitches once high school was done… but here I am… still doing the same damned thing. I can't seem to get away from the high school drama and now here you are, threatening the only thing I'm good at."

Blaine quickly shook his head. "I'm not though! I don't want your position.. hell… I don't even really want to be the captain of the Spartans. I'm quite alright with being a guy in the background so long as I can keep my scholarship and get my degree."

"But you are." Kurt reaffirmed, a slight shudder to his voice. "You're not even trying and you are. Just you wait. They'll call for you when they've always called for me. You have no experience and you're just so damned good as it is. That's what really irks me."

Blaine frowned, looking down at his lap as the guilt flooded over him. He couldn't help that, his logical, reasonable mind knew it, but still he felt bad. Kurt had worked hard for what he had and for whatever reason he felt threatened by Blaine's natural ability.

"I'd give it up… cheer… if there was a way for me to keep the scholarship Kurt. I don't mean to impose on what you've earned… I… just… there's no other way for me."

"I get it.." Kurt murmured, a sigh of his own falling out of his lips. "... I don't like it… but I get it."

Well, that was a start at least.

* * *

 _ **JBIatSCU  
**_ _This just in! Sirens take #1 and Spartans take #2 at the competition this weekend - but is it comradery or rivalry driving them to success? Find out more at my blog!_  
#JBIatSCU

 _ **AuntieSnix  
**_ _Who the hell took a photo of Brit and I on the bus?!_  
#JBIatSCU

_**FondueForMew  
** _ _I think it was someone behind us because all they got was our high pony's._

_**AuntieSnix  
** _ _I find out who did that and sent it to JBI - their ass is mine._

_**FondueForMew  
** _ _I thought you said my ass was yours…._

_**AuntieSnix  
** _ _Oh Brit…_

_**Quintessential  
** _ _Barf._

_**KittysKorner  
** _ _Barf._

_**Samcconaughey  
** _ _Hot._


	15. Chapter 15

"Alright gentlemen and ladies, you can check the athletics board tomorrow to see who made the team. Good effort - all of yeah. I mean it. Nicely done. I'm real sorry I can only take five of you."

Kurt had heard the same words, verbatim, the year before from Coach Beiste. When the tank of a woman wasn't coaching football in the off-season, she took care of the stunt team. Compared to Coach Sylvester and Coach Washington, the woman was a veritable pussycat though, and while Kurt would never say so aloud, she was his favorite.

The turnout had been good. Some forty hopefuls from both the Sirens and the Spartans showing up. Kurt knew he was a shoe-in though. He never missed a catch, could do a lot more than any of the other guys because he was so much more flexible, and he knew, for whatever reason, Coach Beiste had a soft spot for him.

True to his word, Blaine hadn't shown up. Kurt had still kind of been expecting him to, hoping in fact. If Blaine had lied about that much on the bus then Kurt would have been validated in hating him. He would have had a reason to despise him. But, as it was, Blaine was making that difficult.

After their exchange on the bus, Blaine had asked some rudimentary questions about Kurt. What his interests were, what courses he was in, and what productions the drama department had in mind for the future. After that, Blaine had dozed off, eventually slumping down so that his head was resting on Kurt's shoulder. Quinn had snickered, other nearby girls had given him their raised eyebrows, and he had just continued to look out the window and avoid them all, and avoid looking down at the boy cuddled against his side.

Yes, Blaine was making it very difficult for Kurt to hate him.

"Your problem is that you're not a schemer." Quinn had noted to him when he had tried to complain about Blaine being on the bus afterwards.

"What do you mean Quinn?"

She had smirked at him. "I mean you're not very good at scheming. Let me ask you this - what was the point in telling Brittany she could hook up with Santana?"

Kurt shrugged, "I don't know… I figured I could use it somehow to our benefit later on."

"So, you didn't plan. Just like you didn't participate in any of the pranks the Sirens pulled on the Spartans. You want to undermine them, at least you say you do, but I don't think you actually have it in you."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"No. Just fact. Somewhere in that nicely shaped body of yours is still that little sophomore boy I took under my wing who just wanted to get along with everyone and be loved."

"Ugh…" Kurt had rolled his eyes at the suggestion. "... he's done Quinn. His dreams all dashed and replaced with bitchiness that rivals your own."

"No… I don't think so Kurt. It's okay though. Sometimes I miss the old, sweet Kurt."

"You were always first in line to tell me what an idiot I was being in high school Quinn."

"Only because you needed to toughen up to deal with the morons at McKinley Kurt. You don't have to be that way though anymore…"

Kurt didn't see it that way. He couldn't go soft, and, truth be told, he didn't think there was as much of that naive little boy in him anymore as Quinn seemed to believe there was.

He had seen Blaine a few times in passing since they had gotten off the bus with Blaine apologizing for drooling on Kurt's shoulder. The first time was once again in the fine arts open hall. Again Kurt had been practicing his dance while Blaine had tutored a student in piano. They didn't talk that time, since Blaine was occupied with his student during the entire time they coexisted in the room, but Kurt paid close attention to Blaine, trying to figure out why he felt as drawn to him as he did. It wasn't something his brain seemed to be able to rationalize no matter how hard he tried.

Kurt had also seen Blaine in the cafeteria. Like Kurt, he had a food pass which meant he could eat at the cafeteria as much as he wanted. Unlike Kurt he seemed to be taking advantage of it, tray filled with food including the questionable entrees they made. It was a stark contrast to the small salad Kurt had in front of him at the time. In a way, Kurt was jealous of Blaine's ability to overlook the obviously worrisome food and be able to also stay lean while he did it.

"How'd it go?"

Kurt broke out of his trance sitting on a bench in the locker room after the try-outs. Everyone else had left and he had just been giving himself a moment of mental absence before stepping into the showers.

Blaine. Blaine was there and had someone stepped up beside him, looking down at him curiously.

"Fine." Kurt murmured, reaching back to grab his towel and shower caddy. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the weight room…"

"Oh really? Nice view of the gym the weight room has." Kurt noted with a perked brow. Had Blaine been spying on the try-outs from above?

Blaine grinned, his face lighting up. "Yeah… guess it does."

"Indeed." Kurt stood then and walked to a shower stall. He preferred to shower without anyone around, thus waiting for the rest of the stunt team hopefuls to leave, but he couldn't delay it forever, even if Blaine was there. Aside from the sound of his spray and Blaine's, which turned on a moment after his, it was quiet. No humming, no talking. Kurt had to wonder if Blaine was straining his own ears to try and hear Kurt's breathing as much as Kurt was trying to hear his.

They were equally quiet as they tiptoed around one another after the shower, getting changed and doing their hair. Kurt had never felt so bashful around anyone before, and the knowledge that it was Blaine making him feel that way made him feel irritated at himself simultaneously. Seriously, he needed to figure out his issue. He couldn't have some guy making him feel so weird all the time…

Especially when he didn't even have a cup or sports thong on to deal with the reaction of his body when he caught peaks of Blaine's muscular thighs, his abs with the fuzzy black trail tucking into his towel, or that slight dip at the bottom of Blaine's back that Kurt just wanted to trace with his fingers.

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Stunt team results posted! Way to go Hummel, Marquez, Smith, and Yuchenko! Sirens take four of the five top spots!_   
_#SCUSirens #SCUStunt_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_That's eighty percent! Most people would see that as worthy of honors, but would you want a doctor that only knew eighty percent of the body?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_You're ruining my celebration here Brit. Honestly. Besides, it's a cheer team, not a surgery team._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_It's okay Brit. I'll make sure I know one hundred percent of your body for you._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Aw! So sweet Santana!_


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you mean you're not going to stay and party for Christmas break?"

Blaine shrugged, already packing his suitcase even though he still had a week and a half to go before reuniting with his family. It spoke volumes, he figured, about how much he missed them. He'd never been so long without them and even though he had so much keeping him busy at SCU, there were always moments where his heart ached to see them.

If only to tell Cooper to stop sending him condoms. Seriously. Blaine could open a drug store of his own at this point.

"Why wouldn't I go to see them Santana?" Blaine asked to the girl looming behind him as he packed, hands on her hips like it was her decision to make.

"Because of the parties! So many parties!" Santana retorted.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a partier."

He got a snort in reply and Santana left. Honestly, her little unannounced check ups on him in his dorm were always exhausting. If only his resident advisor would approve him putting another lock on the door.

Cheer was winding down as well before the break. There would be more competitions in the next semester, but with all colleges and universities in finals, there had been a moratorium on events. There was still practice, but it was much more laid back and the usual stresses that came with impending competitions were all but eliminated for the moment allowing Blaine to focus on school.

School and… other things anyhow. Namely Kurt who had been less of an ass and more diplomatic since their time together on the bus. He was easier to appreciate when he wasn't trying to get under Blaine's skin, and Blaine felt like they had gotten around some sort of hidden impasse. Whatever the case, they did seem to keep running into one another, paving the way for them to talk casually.

Some of the times they ran into one another though weren't random, and Blaine would have felt more guilty about it had it not helped him form some kind of tentative relationship with the Sirens captain.

He had gone to the weight room one night, only to see the stunt team practicing through the window that looked down into the gymnasium. There, in all his splendor, he was able to watch Kurt who had gone beyond his typical flips and struts to be tossed and do jumps. The small smile Blaine had seen earlier that semester was once again fitted on Kurt's lips as he defied gravity again and again, and it was addicting to watch.

So much so that Blaine had begun to weight train at the same time each evening just so he could spy on the stunt team, and, in particular, Kurt. From that there had been several impromptu meetings in the change room that left Blaine with lots of imagery for the spank bank. Kurt's smooth back, the small perky nipples that sat on a chiseled torso, his long muscular legs, and the way his hair stuck to his head after being washed. Blaine had worked hard not to be caught peeking at the other man, especially since it was difficult not to stare. There were no shortage of athletically built men at SCU, but something about Kurt was just right for Blaine, even if the package didn't match the contents. Kurt still was cool towards him, but it was a step up from the way Blaine had been treated by Kurt and he'd take it.

"So, you're not going home for the holidays?" Blaine asked Kurt as they got dressed on opposite sides of the lockers in the change room.

"No. There's actually a couple competitions for stunt teams over the holidays. I mean… I'll go for Christmas… but I can't spare a lot more than that."

"Won't your family miss you?"

Blaine could almost hear Kurt's shrug as he did hear the sigh overtop of the metal that separated them. "Yeah… but I need to…."

"Keep your place at the top of the pyramid. I get it."

"Anyhow… are you coming to the party this Friday at least?"

Blaine hadn't decided on that yet. The end of the semester post-finals party was apparently criminal to miss. He would have rather just rushed home, but his parents wouldn't be back home that night anyhow so there wasn't a lot of point to leaving campus then.

"Are you going?"

"Of course."

"If I came, would you freak out at me? It's not like we have a good history at these things."

A chuckle echoed off the metal and Blaine grinned to himself, freely enjoying the light sound without worry about being seen. "I can't be held accountable for any of my actions when I've been drinking."

"So I shouldn't come."

"Oh! No! You should definitely come! It's the best party of the season."

Blaine sighed. So he'd been told.

"We'll see."

That little two and a half words ended up becoming a yes as Blaine found himself being towed to the party later that week, Santana on one side of him and Kitty on the other. The two of them had burst into his room just to make sure he was coming and not ditching them - even though he was already getting ready to go.

One of the local frat houses had been turned into something of a club. On the main floor it was pretty tame - just sitting and drinking and socializing, but upstairs there was dancing and downstairs there was a full on glow in the dark rave style party. A local band was playing in the front yard and the backyard had a pool which had been taken over by wet T-shirt contests.

"Jeeze… who pays for all this…?" Blaine stammered as he looked at the food, the entertainment, the drinks, and the decorations in wonder.

"Frat boys come from frat families. Money, money, money…. oh! There's Brit! Bye!" Santana left then, running to her un-official but definitely obvious girlfriend who was covered in glow-in-the-dark paint and laughing as she held a drink in hand.

"Mmm… and that's my cue to find the richest of them all and work my magic." Kitty purred, stalking away from Blaine and quickly becoming lost in the crowd.

"Well… what the hell am I supposed to do now…?" Blaine wondered aloud, looking around for someone he knew so he could maybe talk with them and not be that weird loner in a sea of students.

"You could come dance."

Blaine blinked and turned, jaw falling away from his face as he took in the sight of Kurt, shirtless and painted up like a glow-in-the-dark leopard, complete with whiskers on his face. If that wasn't enough, Kurt's eyes were dead set on Blaine, looking like he was sizing up his next meal.

"I… I mean, I've never really…"

"Danced?" Kurt huffed, shaking his head. "That's a lie. You know I've seen you on the field right?"

"I mean that." Blaine explained, pointing at the paint on Kurt's body.

"Oh, well… come on. I'll help you."

Before he could offer up any reason why it might be a bad idea, Blaine found himself being led to the basement where Kurt dragged him to the paint stand. His shirt was damn near ripped from his body, and he wondered why he had even worried about which shirt to wear, and Kurt began eagerly applying the neon to his abs as Blaine tensed and tried not to laugh at the way it tickled.

Then he was given beer and made to dance in the too hot, too close room of bodies packed in like sardines. Beer after beer he drank, Kurt doing the same until his brain felt like it was thrumming with the music itself and his body tingled all over. He felt hands on him, bumped into others, and returned again and again to Kurt's side as they ground against one another to the beat of the music.

It was after he had sweat so much from being on the dance floor so long that Blaine's paint had begun to slick off of him as the sweat licked it away from his body. Kurt's was doing the same and this time Blaine was the one to grab Kurt by the hand and take him to the paint to reapply the neon.

"Isn't this the best?" Kurt yelled over the noise to Blaine, more of a statement than a question.

"I love everything right now!" Blaine whooped in response, both boys laughing freely at the exclamation and falling against one another as their laughs became too deep and they had to hold arms to their bellies to contain it.

"We should go upstairs!" Kurt declared, grabbing Blaine by the hand and effectively ceasing the painting, his suggestion clearly more of a directive as he led Blaine back up the stairs and then up another flight to where the slower, more intimate dancing was going on. That's where he pulled Blaine against him, grinding his body so hard that Blaine could feel, with no doubt in his mind, that Kurt was turned on.

Not that Blaine wasn't, and with the alcohol coursing through him, he ground back just as hard, hands placed on Kurt's hips and then all over his body in a blur of motion and general feel-good tingles.

"You should come back to my place."

Blaine didn't remember coming up with the words in his mind, nor planning them in any way. They certainly didn't filter through his brain. In any event though, it was his own voice that said it and as inebriated as he was, he didn't feel anything but confidence as he looked to Kurt to await the reply.

"Okay."

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_What the hell is going on these days? Spartans with Sirens? Sirens with Spartans? Has hell frozen over?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_It's only ever been as frigid as your crotch Quinn - which is to say it's nice and toasty and all too welcoming._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Screw you!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Ew, like I'd ever sink to dating a cheer boy._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_What's wrong with cheer boys?_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Well nothing, if you're gay or like waxed bodies._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I like smooth bodies._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Oh for crying out loud…._


	17. Chapter 17

There was a lot of blurriness, then caramel eyes on his, warm hands on his hips, and a door against his back. It took Kurt longer than usual to focus after running like he had, his mind swimming with a mish-mash of knowledge, reasoning, and want all jumbled together and trying to pull themselves out of the fog that had overtaken his brain. For now he was going to ignore it all and focus on his body which seemed to have taken on a magnetic quality when it came to the man he had stumbled along the campus with.

He regretted wearing such tight jeans. That much Kurt was able to compute. No matter how hard he tugged on his jeans they fought against being pulled down, antagonizing his achingly hard cock which just wanted to spring free.

"Jesus you're beautiful."

The compliment made him giggle like a maniac and he wasn't quite sure why. He dropped his head down against Blaine's shoulder to laugh into it until he registered that his lips were against suede soft skin which begged for him to kiss it.

His own eager kisses were returned along the side of his neck, reaching a spot that made Kurt moan and drop his head backwards. At this point he had managed to shove a hand down his pants where he was stroking himself furiously to try and relieve the itch.

"Let me help…" Blaine murmured, somehow managing to catch the sides of Kurt's pants in his fingers and swipe them down with ease that had eluded Kurt. From there Blaine knelt and began kissing Kurt along his legs, forcing him to stumble back and rest his body against the door they had come in through.

He felt hot. Not just in his crotch but in his fingers, toes, and even the tips of his ears, and wherever Blaine's lips were at seemed to spark small fires as well on him. Kurt couldn't remember the last time he felt this desperate for the closeness of another human being. He wanted Blaine all over him, even though it wasn't humanly possible.

"Can… I…?"

Kurt looked down through his lashes and groaned first at the sight of Blaine, who had somehow shed his own clothing during their flight to this dorm room, gently tugging on the elastic of Kurt's underwear. Beyond that Kurt could see Blaine's red hooded cock, bobbing against his abs. That had definitely not been a sock in Blaine's pants the day they performed Applause in the field. There was no question about it now.

"Fuck… yes…."

Kurt stepped himself out of his underwear as Blaine pulled it down, whining lowly as his cock was finally free of its bonds. He tugged on Blaine's hair, urging him to stand back up so their mouths could smack together in frantic, needy kisses. He nibbled along Blaine's lips while Blaine groaned into his mouth, cocks slotting up against one another and seeking the friction of the other while their hands explored. Some drowning thought in his mind tried to call out to him that what he was doing was wrong, but Kurt didn't throw out a life preserver. Instead he ignored the thought in favor of hooking a leg up and over Blaine's hip, drawing him closer against him with the heel of his foot.

"What…. what do you want?"

Kurt licked his lips and leaned his head forward, whispering even though they had been anything but quiet since entering the room. "I want you to fuck me. I want it hard and fast. I want to feel you."

There was a little gasp that spilled from Blaine's lips and then their mouths were reconnected, tongues sloppily grazing over the teeth and gums of the other. Blaine wrapped a hand under Kurt's lifted leg and pressed his body forward, pinning Kurt against the door as he rutted himself against Kurt's thigh. His other hand had weaved its way around Kurt and was pulling Kurt's cheeks apart as his fingers blindly sought out Kurt's entrance, rubbing themselves over it once it was discovered.

That just made Kurt rock his hips up harder, biting down on his lower lip with a raspy moan. He didn't usually bottom, so what was he thinking begging Blaine to have him like that? What was he thinking at all in this situation? He tried to think back to what had led them here but was pulled from rooting through his memories by the hard press of a finger against his pucker.

"Oh… oh… god….."

"Bed."

Blaine's one word was a directive. He pulled Kurt away from the door and shoved him towards the bed. It took him a second to find his footing, but Kurt managed to stumble over and then onto the bed, hoisting his bare ass up towards Blaine as he propped himself up on hands and knees, and looking back at the other man who was rooting around in a drawer until he triumphantly pulled out a shiny square and a little bottle.

Kurt knew what those were, and how they were going to be used, and the thought of it all made him moan and lick his lips as he watched Blaine return to him, still covered in body paint that had smeared all over his torso during their make-out session at the door.

Strong hands pressed Kurt's cheeks apart once the items were dropped upon the bed and Blaine's panting breaths told Kurt that the other man was having a hard time holding himself back. Somehow he was though, and as Kurt bounced his ass back, one of his cheeks was released so that Blaine could grab the lube.

It felt like eons passed while Blaine coated his fingers over with the shiny, slippery liquid.

Then slick fingers rubbed over the entrance to his ass and one snaked its way into him. It had been a long time since Kurt had been penetrated, and the accompanying burn almost took him by surprise as his body squirmed in protest. Blaine's other hand though was quick to hold Kurt firmly by the hip and pull him closer towards him, forcing the digit further up until it was buried and Kurt was whimpering at the ache his muscles were experiencing. However, the instant Blaine pulled it back, Kurt immediately hissed, not wanting the loss anymore than he wanted the initial pain. It was like getting a lollipop after getting a needle. He knew the joy of what would come after the pain had subsided and everything in his body was telling him that he wanted that sweet release and he wanted it now.

The finger was pushed back in, and rubbed against the muscle on the inside which seemed to be pulsing around the intrusion. Blaine's finger went exploring then. Twitching this way and that until it brushed Kurt's prostate and he lost it. He cried out in a broken moan and shoved his ass backwards, trying to get that finger against his prostate as much as humanly possible. Whatever feeling he had of being pulled apart was overshadowed by the pure pleasure rippling through him.

"I need more…. fuck… more Blaine."

He didn't get a verbal response, but another finger was slid in alongside the first, stretching and pulling him apart as he ground his ass back against them, trying to keep up a rhythm where he was able to use Blaine's fingers to hit his prostate while they scissored and stretched him open. One of his own hands awkwardly reached up to grab at his own leaking cock before it was batted away by Blaine's hand.

It made Kurt furious. He was always in control. He got to decide what would happen in any of his sexual encounters.

"You come when I say you come."

Anger was quickly replaced by thick, syrupy desire. The heat of Blaine's voice, so low and authoritative, the perfect pressure in his ass, the fact that he was on his hands and knees, it all made Kurt's heart twist along with his stomach.

This was fucking hot.

At the point where the burning dissipated, a third finger joined the other two which Kurt eagerly bounced his ass back on as Blaine watched with hungry, dark eyes. Kurt kept his head turned back, sometimes watching Blaine's expression and sometimes watching his ass swallow up Blaine's fingers.

"More… more…"

"Greedy… Fuck.."

The fingers continued stabbing their way in and out of Kurt, making little 'scluck' sounds as the lube was worked in while Blaine worked with his free hand and his teeth to open the condom packet and then slide the protection over his length before drizzling more lube over himself.

It was a delicious sight, and the instant Kurt's ass was emptied of fingers, he thrust his hips backwards towards Blaine's cock in invitation. "Fuck me already."

"Jesus."

Blaine was trying to be chivalrous or gentlemanly or whatever the hell he felt he needed to be as he too-slowly lined his cock up to Kurt's gaping hole, but Kurt just wanted to be satisfied. He shoved his hips backwards, forcing Blaine's dick into him so he could be full again. The burn returned as his ring of muscle cinched around the intruder that was much larger than the three fingers that had just visited, and Kurt keened loudly, grabbing the blanket with white knuckles as he continued to force himself back on Blaine in what was surely some kind of blissful torture.

Hands were on his hips again then and from above him Blaine hissed, "Fuck. You just can't stand to wait can you?" It was accompanied shortly by the slap of balls against Kurt's skin as Blaine slammed himself the rest of the way in, reducing Kurt to a mess of whines, whimpers, howls, and pleadings for "More."

He hand to brace himself against the bed, his fingers and knees digging in so that he didn't fall forward or even off the edge of the bed as Blaine began to snap his hips forward reflexively. Each time he would pull back slowly, almost to the point of withdrawing completely, and then Blaine would stab himself back in again, hard and fast like Kurt had asked for. Kurt's moans were broken by the gasps forced from him with each thrust, and he was sure that the whole dorm hall could hear him screaming, but the last concern he had was caring about what anyone else thought then.

"So tight… so…. fuck…. Kurt…."

One of Blaine's hands left Kurt's hips and reached up to grab him around the shoulder, forcing Kurt's body to slam back against him even further. Every thrust had his cock bouncing against his belly, the sticky precum dabbing him every time. If what they were doing was slower, or less intense, Kurt could have reached up and tried to stroke his cock then. It would have only taken him a moment for him to come like that.

But instead he had to hold tight as Blaine seemed to thrust harder and deeper with each stroke. Kurt felt like he was going to fall apart with the onslaught, his prostate being rubbed roughly with each pass and making him see a stream of sparkles in front of his eyes. Could he come just from this?

A sweaty hand was removed from Kurt's hip then, and before he could wonder where it would be placed there was a sharp sting on one of his cheeks, accompanied by the sound of a slap. It made him clench up automatically around Blaine's cock which made the burn run deeper inside of him. He had never been spanked before, and the shock of it accompanied by the new source of red hot heat had him whimpering.

That seemed to spur Blaine on more though, smacking his palm against Kurt's cheeks with each thrust, alternating the cheek and managing to hit them right as his cock was pressing against Kurt's prostate. He didn't have time to process whether he was for or against the spanking though because his extremities were buzzing and his body began to shiver while his stomach knotted as a prelude to his release.

"Oh god. Fuck. Shit. You asshole! I'm… I'm going to…."

Vertigo inducing pleasure ripped through him and made Kurt lose any and all balance he had maintained to this point as he let his chest drop to the top of the bed along with his head as he continued to cry out a lot of swears and nonsense while he coated his stomach and the blanket in white spunk. He vaguely registered that Blaine was still spanking him and still thrusting, but everything seemed alien for at least a moment as his brain was covered in the fog of his orgasm.

Then there was a cry above him, and a body falling forward on top of him, panting and speaking in gibberish as well while lazy kisses were plied to Kurt's neck, ones that he was too numb to be able to appreciate.

Usually after sex, Kurt was able to tie off a condom, throw it away, get dressed, and leave in short order. Tonight though he was at a loss for how to even move. The fog wasn't lifting and while he fought the fatigue trying to overtake him, he felt something wet wipe off his chest, and then strong hands lift him and tuck him under covers that smelled of sweat. A warm, furry body pressed against him, and a light was turned off, leaving him in the dark where he decided to stop fighting sleep and just let it take him for the moment.

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Where the hell did Kurt go?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Where the hell did Blaine go?_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Uh oh…._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Oh yeah..._


	18. Chapter 18

"Fuck! Shit! Cock!"

Those were not exactly the words Blaine intended to wake up to. Nor did he expect the pulsing pain in his temples indicative of a hangover or the all-over ache in his bones and muscles. He forced his eyelids open then snapped them shut just as quickly as the light seeping into his eyes confirmed his hangover as it made his eyes tighten and burn. However, he pried them open again, just to slivers, to look towards the raging voice.

Kurt.

Memories of the night before hit him, making the migraine seem ten times as worse as the depth of his drunkenness was revealed. He'd never had a drunken hook up before. Hell, he'd argued against them in past conversations. He had said they were immature and irresponsible and, yet, here he was.

Before him Kurt was seeking out his clothing, half dressed and smeared with the remnants of their glow painting which had been mixed with sweat and… well… other stuff. He was shaking his head and muttering curses under his breath, unaware that Blaine was now awake and Blaine had to wonder if it would be easier to just shut his eyes and feign that he was still out until Kurt left.

But that wasn't Blaine.

"Hey…"

Kurt snapped his head up, looking at Blaine with glossed over eyes, suggesting that he was probably suffering just as much from last night's drinking as Blaine was.

"Hey… uh… I have practice."

"Oh…" Blaine nodded and forced himself to sit up, ensuring the blanket stayed wrapped around his torso even though Kurt had seen it all last night. Now that Blaine had his senses back to him, he also remembered his shame. "You left your shirt at the party I think… you can borrow one of mine…"

Kurt grumbled under his breath about the shirt being an original something but nodded to Blaine who kept the blanket wrapped around himself as he went to fish through his drawers and found a T-shirt he was willing to part with.

"Here." He handed it off to Kurt who actually looked it over appraisingly, as if he had other choices, before putting it on.

"Thanks. See you later."

And that was it. Kurt left without anything else to say and Blaine stood there with a blanket, which now needed to be washed with all the spunk, paint, and sweat on it, in stunned silence still trying to sort out the past twelve hours in his mind.

Eventually he decided that moping in bed and nursing the hangover wasn't going to help him feel any better. Besides, he had to get ready to see his family.

That was the cue for his phone to come alive as it rang. Blaine hastily picked it up, making sure he remembered to sound "normal" so his mom wouldn't worry and lecture him if she caught any whiff of him being hungover or having one-nighters.

"Hey mom."

_"Hey sweetie. How are you?"_

"Alright. Looking forward to seeing you later."

_"Yeah… about that…."_

Blaine listened in as his mom informed him that the family wouldn't be getting together. Both her and his dad had found some good paying part-time work over the holidays and couldn't say no. She argued that it was necessary to help them all get out of debt and this sacrifice would help them all in the long run. She told Blaine they wanted to help him out like he had helped them. She said they'd see him as soon as they could and that they all loved him.

Don't cry, he thought to himself as he set the phone down at the end of their conversation.

Don't cry, he thought to himself as he forced himself down the hall to the common showers.

Don't cry, he thought to himself while crying quietly in the spray of the shower.

He missed his family. They were everything to him. He had been looking forward to spending time with them and just honestly relaxing with them. Being free to be himself without all the drama of cheer and the stress of school work. Now he was spending his holidays in a place where he felt alone most of the time, even when other people were always around him.

The shower wasn't enough for his catharsis, so he went to the gym and forced himself to sweat as he worked out harder than he had in a long time. Every now and then he'd peek out the window that looked down into the gym at the stunt team practicing. Kurt had managed to squeeze in a shower and get himself changed, and aside from a very forced looking walk, no one might have known that anything was awry with him.

Blaine was watching as the five person group, under the watch of the brutish looking coach, made a standing pyramid formation, with Kurt at the peak. It was quite a thing to behold, and Blaine was sure only Kurt would be able to pull off the jump he knew, from watching them practice the same routine before, was coming.

Except he didn't this time.

Kurt didn't extend his leg as far as he needed to in order for the jump to work, and, in slow motion to Blaine's eyes, he watched as Kurt fell and twisted over himself. There was a cry of pain he could hear all the way up and through the glass, and Blaine was running out of the weight room and down to the gym before he realized what he was doing.

When he got there, Kurt was surrounded by his teammates and the coach was knelt over him, helping him sit up even though Kurt was hissing through his teeth in pain from the movement.

He knew he was getting stared at by the other cheer members as he slid in and kneeled at Kurt's other side, looking over him with worry and panic and asking if he should call for an ambulance.

The coach glanced up at him, brows rising as she took in the new sight. "Campus doctor is already on his way cupcake."

Blaine nodded and looked at Kurt's face then. His teeth were gritted down on themselves, his eyes wrenched together, and every muscle tense. Blaine wasn't sure what exactly was wrong just by looking over him, but he could tell that Kurt must be in some kind of unimaginable pain to be so wrecked by it.

"What're we going to do Coach?" One of the other cheer members asked somewhere behind him. "We have a competition tomorrow."

Asshole, Blaine thought to himself. Who the hell cared about that when Kurt was hurt on the ground right now.

"I'll be fine." Kurt hissed through his teeth.

"Yeah pumpkin…. we'll let the doctor decide that."

Blaine waited with them all, blushing under Kurt periodic looks towards him. His brow was furrowed and it was like he was trying to ask Blaine a question with those blue eyes, but Blaine couldn't decipher it.

They were pushed back when the doctor arrived, a nurse in tow, and examined Kurt. Blaine bit his lip nervously, folding his arms over his chest and wishing he knew more about medicine to understand the occasional technical term they were using.

"Well…" The nurse said as he stood up to talk to the coach while the doctor continued to work on Kurt. "... He's down for now. Sprain in his ankle and lower back from the fall and bruising all around them. You know the drill coach. If he's caught in practice or in a competition before the doctor gives his approval, you get fined."

Blaine took in a heavy breath and held it. Sprains. That wasn't too bad. Those would just fix themselves with time and care.

"Yeah I know buttercup…." The coach sighed, ignoring the murmurs of the cheer members behind her and Blaine, all ridiculously worried about the competition coming up instead of how Kurt was doing.

Kurt meanwhile was arguing with the doctor over the severity of his injuries, insisting he'd be fine with a little rest. It tugged up the corner of Blaine's mouth to watch because if there was one thing he knew about Kurt, it was that he was stubborn to the point of insanity, and the whole scene was endearing to watch play out.

Endearing….

Blaine's stomach flip-flopped as he caught himself thinking it. He was falling for Kurt. Kurt, the school bitch, the one he'd just had the most ridiculously amazing sex with under the influence of alcohol, the guy who alternated between hating on him and being vaguely pleasant, the guy who captained the Sirens - his rival cheer team.

* * *

 __ **JBIatSCU  
** Who was caught doing walk of shames after last night's big party? Well! Check out my tumblr for all the gossip and pictures to find out more!  
#JBIatSCU

 __ **KittysKorner  
** Oh my god JBI. Did you seriously just get up really early and stalk around campus to take pictures of people leaving dorms?  
#JBIatSCU

_**AuntieSnix  
** Oooo… Kurt's on there!_

_**Quintessential  
** …. by your captain's dorm._

_**FondueForMew  
** Oh snap!_


	19. Chapter 19

This was all unbelievable. Sure his ass was sore from the night before, but he was Kurt-freaking-Hummel, he could push through the pain. Hell, in high school he'd cheered with a split on two fingers after spraining them after a failed catch and they'd still won nationals. Someone needed to tell that to the doctor, fussing over him like he was a baby. Yes, he hurt. In fact he hurt a lot. There was spasms of pain shooting up his back, more than just the tender ache courtesy of Blaine, and his ankle felt like it had been wrenched through a wringer, but he could still perform. He had to.

Maybe he should have taken it easier, or at least stretched more before practice (not that he had the time after rushing out and getting himself ready in record time). At the very least he should have monitored himself better the night before. He wouldn't be in this predicament if that had been the case. He wouldn't have been fighting a numbing ache that had traveled up his spine and down his legs, limiting his flexibility and causing him to lose his balance. What the hell had he been thinking…

Right. He hadn't. He had downed the alcohol in the hopes it would suppress the thoughts that had been plaguing him. Thoughts about Blaine, who he was, and what he really wanted. He didn't want to wax philosophical when he was supposed to be enjoying college life, so he had drank… and drank and drank until he was under the covers with the guy he wasn't supposed to be falling for.

Fat lot of good it had done him in the end.

Now Blaine was here, looking at him like he was a wounded animal while his teammates fretted over the competition that was supposed to happen the next day because the damned doctor was telling Coach Beiste that Kurt needed to be excused from all cheer activities until he checked out clear.

Stupid athletic health regulations.

He bore his teeth against each other, gritting them down until they squeaked against one another which made his skull shudder. He was still fighting off a hangover to top everything off and his head was pounding.

"Just give me some pain medication and I'll be fine!" He finally hissed through his teeth, glowering at the nurse and doctor.

"Sorry bud. No can do. I can give you something to help with the pain but you won't be fine. No competition tomorrow." The doctor asserted, writing something down on his pad.

Kurt wasn't going to take that as an answer. He propped himself up on his palms and pushed up, wincing as the pain flared up throughout him from all angles as he forced himself to stand. Unfortunately the nurse was faster at getting to his side than he was at getting up and the jerk was wrapping his arms around Kurt's torso and pulling him back down to the mat in seconds.

"Stay until the doctor has your ankle bound and we get you some crutches."

"I'm FINE." Kurt spat once more, tears welling into the corners of his eyes.

"Pumpkin, it's rotten but we have to follow the regulations. You'll get the whole team disbanded for the season if you play." Coach Beiste directed towards him.

"What about the competition coach?"  
"Yeah. We just can't forfeit…"  
"I stayed at school instead of going home because of the competitions!"

Coach Beiste turned back to the rest of the team, trying to soothe them and leaving Kurt to watch with only Blaine's eyes still on him, still looking at him with pity. Why the hell was he even here?

"What about Anderson?" One of the stunt team members asked suddenly, drawing everyone's attention, including Blaine's. "He's been peeking down at us from the weight room every practice and he's totally turned the Spartans around. I'll bet he could fill in."

"Yeah, but I -" Blaine began, eyes wide as he seemed to catch sight of everyone looking at him now.

"Could work. He's a little bit short but you are right Smith, he has shown a lot of potential."

"But -"

"Let's try the routine with him!"

"I -"

Whatever Blaine had to say, it didn't get through as Kurt's teammates ignored him and dragged Blaine out onto the mats in front of him and Coach, who directed the whole ensemble while Kurt was helpless to do anything more than watch as Blaine usurped his position while the doctor wrapped his his ankle. Of course he knew every move and flip and turn, and did them all perfectly under the guidance of the rest of the team. In fact, Blaine was so good that Kurt couldn't help but stare. The man had a way of moving so fluidly that it looked like he was dancing even when he was airborne. It was something Kurt had never mastered, that level of relaxedness. He knew his moves were mechanical in comparison. They'd never want him back on the team if they had Blaine.

"Here's a painkiller for now." The doctor declared, setting a pill into Kurt's mouth which he swallowed dry as he watched the routine being performed without him. No one paying him any mind. No one worried about how he was doing or feeling. Kurt was all but forgotten down there.

Like Blaine had been planning for it the whole time.

Kurt squinted, trying to hold the tears back. He had been such an idiot. Of course Blaine had been planning for it. Why else would he watch the routine they had been working on so religiously and obvious enough that someone would suggest Blaine step in? It was payback for everything Kurt had done to him, and screwing Kurt had all been part of the plan. It had to have been. Set him up to fail and then swoop in to take his place, feigning innocence by batting those stupidly long eyelashes. Hurting Kurt where he was the most vulnerable. Taking it all from him.

"Can I go now?" Kurt murmured quietly once his ankle was bound up and some crutches were brought out.

"Look, I know this isn't ideal bud, but at least now you can maybe visit some family over the holidays? You know I won't clear you for a week at least anyhow." The doctor suggested, helping Kurt to his feet and tucking the crutches under his armpits.

"Yeah…." Kurt huffed, taking one last lingering look at the team before hobbling out, "... think I'll do just that."

If there was anything he could count on, it was that his dad would be ready and willing to give him the hug he desperately felt he needed right then and there.

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_What the hell happened? Why is Blaine performing with the Stunt team? Where did my Kurt go?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Apparently he fell on his ass. First time for everything… well, Kurt's fallen on his ass before, but that was in the halls at McKinley, not during cheer._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_God… I don't know whether I should be happy or sad…_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Sad obviously! Kurt lives for his spotlight! Fuck! Why didn't he tell me?!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I saw his dad come and pick him up from his dorm. He was on crutches!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I am so pissed off at him right now. I'm supposed to be his BFF. Why didn't he tell me this?!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Maybe because you'd make a big scene?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Maybe because you'd make it all about you?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Screw you both._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Poor Kurt._


	20. Chapter 20

Blaine tried to find Kurt after being pulled into that practice, he really did, but he didn't know where Kurt's dorm where or even where he hung out. Heck, he tried to escape during the practice once he saw that Kurt was gone but the overzealous little group of cheerleaders pulled him back and made him go over the routine until Coach Beiste was satisfied.

He definitely didn't want what had been pushed upon him. His winter break was supposed to be a chance to relax and be with family, but his family had found other things to do and now he wouldn't even be able to have some down time with the schedule the stunt team had over the holidays.

Santana was no help in figuring out where Kurt was, aside from telling Blaine via text that he'd been seen leaving campus with his dad, presumably to have some help while he recuperated from his fall, and the girls he usually saw Kurt hanging around with weren't visible on campus during the holidays.

So Blaine went from competition to competition with practices in between. They placed first in everything and Blaine consistently reaffirmed that once Kurt was back, he was done with stunt. However, this particular group of cheerleaders was nothing if not disinterested in anything but winning competitions. He was told that so long as Kurt wasn't reliable enough not to fall, Blaine would be in that top spot.

It gave Blaine pause to say the least. Did Kurt really spend so much time voluntarily with these people who were so much more interested in a silly routine than the welfare of one of their teammates? it was rhetorical of course though. He'd seen how irritated they all had been when Kurt had fell, like his suffering was an inconvenience to to them all. They never talked about anything other than cheer either. Boring, shallow automatons - all of them.

Kurt didn't surface during the break though, so Blaine was left alone with the cheer robots until classes resumed in January. His parents and his brother each sent him a care package, both of which he stared at darkly for the better part of a day before opening. He didn't want gifts. He wanted his family. He wanted friends and people to spend time with. College was supposed to be the time of his life where he met interesting people and had adventures. If the first term was any indication though, it was a miserable, lonely place, and the only light within it had disappeared before Blaine had even had the chance to talk with him.

He would fix that though. The instant he saw Kurt. He would gather up all the courage he had and talk to him.

Which was why it came as a surprise to Blaine when the first time he saw Kurt after the break was stepping into one of the classes he needed to take for finance and seeing Kurt sitting in the back and rotating a pen between his finger as he waited for class to start. Kurt didn't see Blaine until Blaine sat himself beside Kurt and offered him a small, hopeful smile, getting a glare in return.

"Why are you in here?"

"I - ah…. One of my majors is finance?" Blaine stumbled on his words, not expecting the harsh tone Kurt was taking with him.

"Well… fuck…" Kurt hissed.

Blaine swallowed hard, looking at Kurt - now free of crutches, presumably better. "What about you?"

"Finance is my minor."

Kurt didn't seem pleased to see Blaine in the least. In fact he seemed quite offended by his presence and Blaine didn't know how to handle that aside from keep talking, hoping to warm Kurt up to his being there.

"Santana said you spent the holidays with your family?"

"Yes."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes."

"Ready for regular cheer to start back up again?"

"Yes."

Well this was going nowhere. Blaine nibbled over his lower lip as he struggled to come up with something that might lead to more than a one word answer from Kurt.

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"Stuff."

Well that attempted had failed miserably. Luckily, the professor stepped in and the conversations in the class were silenced by the professor introducing himself and going over the curriculum and plan for the semester. Every now and then Blaine would glance to his side at Kurt, who was mostly focusing on the board and writing down notes. He did catch him looking over one time though, and Blaine took that opportunity to shoot Kurt a smile.

"Fuck off." was the response to that, whispered through gritted teeth before Kurt looked back to the board leaving Blaine feeling more lost than ever. He leaned back in his seat, staring blankly ahead and unable to process what the professor was saying. What did he do?

The end of class couldn't come quickly enough and as Kurt snapped his book shut and tried to make off quickly, Blaine reached out to grab him by the wrist, looking up to him pleadingly as Kurt glowered back at him.

"Please. Let me just… can we talk? Please? Coffee?"

Kurt snapped his wrist away. "Nothing to talk about."

Then he stormed off and Blaine watched his retreating figure while his own heart sunk into his back and atop of his stomach heavily.

The next day was much the same. Blaine sat himself next to Kurt, tried to talk to him, and ended up ignored and scowled at. The third day he didn't even get a scowl - Kurt just didn't look at him at all.

"It's because you took his perch." Santana grumbled Blaine's way as they slid through the cafeteria line up together.

"His… perch?"

"His top spot. Like an eagle. Looking down over all the rest. Boy covets his damned perch."

Blaine shook his head, handing his cafeteria card over the cashier before following Santana out to a seat. "I don't understand why…. it's just cheerleading…"

"For you - yes. At our school though, it was everything, and for Kurt it protected him from the bullies. You went to that all boys school where I assume everyone was just flaming left, right, and center, but Kurt… Kurt was the only out kid at school, and he was tormented for it."

"We didn't-" Blaine started, intending on fixing Santana's perception of Dalton before deciding it wasn't worth it and went back to the focus of the conversation. "... Cheer fixed that for Kurt?"

Santana gave a little noncommittal shrug, "Not at first. Then some football jerk came up and forced himself on Kurt… just a kiss… and it was the same guy who was picking on him the worst. Kurt used it against him. Blackmailed him into keeping the jocks at bay. Guy ended up transferring later on, but by that time Kurt had secured himself the position of top bitch and no one messed with him anymore."

"Oh…"

"Y'know. He used to be a sweet kid. Naive, dorky, and completely flaming - but sweet. But now… honestly Blaine. I don't know what you see in him." Santana noted, brown eyes searching Blaine's face for answers.

Blaine didn't have any answers to give though. Asking him why he liked Kurt was like asking a fish how wings worked - it just wasn't something he had the capacity to figure out. "You never really talk about high school Santana…"

Santana gave another small shrug. "Not much to talk about."

"But you did go to the same school as Quinn, Brittany, Kurt, and Kitty. What happened between you all?"

Santana frowned at that, shook her head, and stabbed a piece of tomato with her fork. "Don't change the subject short stuff. We're talking about you. Besides, what happened in high school stays in high school."

Blaine arched his brow, but didn't push the matter any further. Obviously what happened in high school had followed Santana and the others here to SCU instead of staying there, and Blaine was certain that Kurt wasn't the only one that had been warped into something new by that school.

* * *

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Santana?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Yeah Brit?_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Can you come over? The laundry ate all my socks again._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Dare I ask why that necessitates Santana joining you?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Brittany has a thing about socks._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Be there soon._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Clearly I'm behind on what qualifies as a fetish nowadays. Socks… jeeze..._


	21. Chapter 21

Kurt could have just moved seats. Day after day Blaine came to sit by him and instead of moving, Kurt endured the closeness, endured the way his heart picked up the pace, and endured the way he couldn't completely focus on the professor.

Maybe it was because he felt the need to punish himself for some reason, or maybe it was because over the holidays his dad had reminded him of the way he'd been brought up.

"You have to be kind to people Kurt." His dad had insisted after Kurt queried him on why he was doing a repair for cost. "That doesn't mean letting them take advantage of you, but it does mean seeing what people need and stepping in where you can."

He went on to explain that the couple he was fixing the car for had just had a baby that had health problems, were already stressed to the max both emotionally and financially, and the car was necessary for getting to and from the hospital.

"If I was just a regular businessman I wouldn't care… wouldn't see the people behind the counter for who they really were. I certainly wouldn't ask questions and wouldn't have discovered all about their situation, and I'd definitely end up making more money - but at what cost to myself? I make enough money Kurt. It ain't going to set us up in a mansion or anything, but I have a roof over my head and I can help you out with college here and there and that's good enough for me."

His dad had always been good about making everything he did and every challenge Kurt faced a learning opportunity, and while he had lived at home it had been exhausting, especially when his dad found out about how he had blackmailed Karofsky in order to secure his safety at school. Now though, he let his dad's message of values fall over him like a familiar old blanket. Being kind was easier said than done, especially with Blaine who had left him feeling used and redundant. So he fell back on old habits, being snarky and snappy even though he didn't move his seat.

"Apparently the stunt team is leaderless." Quinn quipped over lunch.

Kurt lifted his gaze up from the rabbit food he had been poking noncommittally with his fork, "What did they do to Blaine?"

"Nothing. Apparently once semester began again he said he was done with them."

Kurt cocked an eyebrow at that. He had assumed Blaine was there for good, so he had steered clear of the stunt team and its members - a difficult task when several of them were on the Sirens. His pride was still sore from the rejection.

Quinn chewed a mouthful of greens and watched Kurt's reaction, swallowing before continuing. "Apparently he felt like he was just a temporary fix."

"He swooped in pretty hard and fast Quinn. They won all their competitions over the holidays too. Why would he quit?"

Quinn rolled her eyes at him, Kurt missing whatever obvious thing she felt he was missing as he waited for her to elaborate.

"Look dummy. Maybe he actually did think he was just there until you healed up. Maybe he's not a total asshole like you figure he must be."

"Then why's he badgering me in class…." Kurt huffed softly, not confident enough about what he was saying to be more decisive. Blaine was a bit of pest, but, in reflection, it did seem like he was trying to be nice.

"Oh… maybe because he likes you?" Quinn snapped, another roll of the eyes accompanying it.

"Why?"

Hands gestured out to either side in the universal sign that Quinn had had enough of the topic. "Why don't you ask him?! Why do you keep asking me like I know? You're the one who got all hot and heavy with him at the party after all! Do I even want to ask why you were doing the walk of shame the morning after or should I just assume the worst?"

"You should probably assume the worst…."

"Damn it Kurt!" Quinn's hand was in his face, finger wagging at him scoldingly as she griped. "You know better! What the hell?! Am I the only one on the team with any semblance of sanity left? First Brit and now you…"

"I thought I was being clever with Brittany…"

"Well you weren't. Like I told you before - you suck at scheming. I think you secretly, maybe even subconsciously, just saw how much Brit was pining for Santana and wanted her to be happy so you came up with some lame excuse for it to happen… and now you're following suite and banging bottoms with the enemy? Do you know how bad it's going to look Kurt?!"

Kurt shrugged, looking away to avoid eye contact. "Why? Why does it look bad? Who's going to care… really?"

"You. When you get hurt."

His heart sank into his lungs, making it harder for him to take full breaths. He had never been good at dealing with heartbreak and Quinn knew it. He was still looking away when an all too familiar voice interrupted them.

"Hey… mind if I sit here?"

Kurt looked up in time to catch Quinn's be careful gaze before she picked up her tray and stepped away with the excuse of being done, leaving Kurt alone with Blaine who took her spot, plate piled high with enough calories and carbs to feed all of the Sirens.

"You left the stunt team." Kurt stammered. It was far from the first thing his logical mind figured would be best to start out the inevitable conversation he was about to have, but his logical mind was presently trying to dig itself out of a field of emotions.

"Yeah. You're back…" Blaine said plainly, arching one of those big bushy, caterpillar eyebrows as he spoke. "... and I told you before. I'm not interested in stunt. I'm on the Spartans because it covers my tuition and that's all I'm interested in committing to."

"Well I'm not someone who trusts easily."

"Yeah. Got that now."

Kurt leaned back into his seat, let his eyes roll upwards to glance at the ceiling as he collected his thoughts, and then looked back towards Blaine who was munching on something as he looked right back at Kurt, amber eyes twinkling with gold. This would be so much easier if he wasn't so good looking, Kurt thought to himself as he worked to form words.

"I thought you had purposely been rough with me that night so I'd mess up and you could take over my position in stunt."

Again Blaine's eyebrow caterpillars went up, this time together. "I… what? Kurt… you…" He dropped his voice to a whisper as a blush fell over his cheeks, "You wanted that… Was that why you fell?"

Kurt just nodded.

"Sorry…" Blaine glanced down. "God. No wonder you wouldn't talk to me in class."

"It's fine now… really…"

"No… no it's not… sex is supposed to be this thing that connects two people in a wonderful way and… Kurt… that was the first time I'd ever… I mean…"

Kurt went wide eyed, "Oh god. You weren't a virgin were you?"

Blaine spluttered a little, the redness on his cheeks spreading out to the rest of his face. "Oh.. No… no… I just… It was the first time I'd ever had sex without being in a relationship is all…"

Kurt mimed the gesture of wiping off his brow. "Phew. Well… welcome to college. Sex is good for relieving tension."

"Oh… is that… is that why…. uh… I mean… do you…."

Kurt had to shake his head, a corner of his mouth turning up into a half grin no matter how hard he was trying to suppress it. "God. My dad would totally approve of you… got the whole sex is a special way to connect to someone you care about talk after I became sexually active."

Blaine was delightfully rosy now, all over, and having a very difficult time maintaining eye contact.

"To answer your question though, or what I'm assuming your question is since you can't seem to form a sentence, even though you have no problem saying very dirty things after some drinks, yeah. I have sex to relax. A good shot of endorphins helps me level right out."

"Oh… so…."

God Blaine looked so crestfallen as Kurt spelled it out for him, and it tugged on his heart to watch Blaine stare at his meal dejectedly.

"It doesn't have to be a one time thing though."

Blaine's head snapped up as Kurt said it, and already Kurt could see his eyes growing blacker.

"I mean… you were actually really… good."

Now it was Blaine's turn for a smile to creep over his face as he looked at Kurt, puppy dog eyes completely set on him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

* * *

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I really don't understand why everyone is having a problem with differential calculus. It's… like… super easy._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_That's my girl._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Barf. Get a room you too._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Done and done._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_At least they can't reproduce without help._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Oh god. Could you imagine? Little bitchy half-latinos that enjoyed calculus?_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Scary._


	22. Chapter 22

Class could wait. No one would notice they were gone anyhow, and even if someone did, it would be worth it. They had barely gotten to Kurt's dorm, the closer of their rooms, without ripping the clothing off one another as it was.

Kurt's voice was nothing if not erotic on it's own. Every time Blaine's lips traced along Kurt's neck, Kurt let out something between a mewl and a whimper which prompted Blaine to keep up the exploration of Kurt's skin with his lips, resulting in even more delicious noises.

Kurt was pinned up against the door, wriggling as he tried to undress himself without the use of his hands which were grabbing as Blaine's shirt, trying to pull it off and also using it to have something to clutch on whenever Blaine found a particularly sensitive spot. So far he had only managed to shimmy out of his pants which pooled around his ankles atop of sneakers that still hadn't been slipped out of.

"We could… we should…." Kurt uttered breathlessly, yelping then as Blaine rolled his tongue around the shell of his ear where he had worked up to, trying to taste every inch of the gorgeous man before him. "... bed… or… lock door… or….. Oooo…."

Despite the fact that his blood flow was completely dedicated to keeping his cock hard at the moment, Blaine still managed to understand. He shuffled them backwards, chest to chest and lips still connected to Kurt's ear until the back of his legs hit the edge of the bed and he purposely fell backwards, taking Kurt with him since his hands were wound around his waist.

Kurt gasped, rubbing his body upwards an inch and moaning until Blaine's lips pressed over his own to swallow the noise, wary of overzealous neighbours or resident advisors who might hear Kurt.

Blaine rolled them over then, while Kurt's mouth was busy with his own, so he was on top and parting Kurt's thighs with his knees and pressing his straining bulge against the one so evident in Kurt's briefs. Kurt's tongue got rough then, exploring the insides of Blaine's mouth in a fierce, almost drunken manner that made Blaine wonder what it would feel like on his cock.

"Clothing…. off….." Kurt whined softly, breaking off the kiss in order to relay the request.

There was shuffling, fumbling with their own clothing, and fabric thrown to the ground in rapid succession - a break that was necessary to free Blaine's aching cock and let him see Kurt's, even more beautiful in the light of day. He put his lips back onto Kurt's neck, earning himself sweet little gasps and panting that made his dick twinge to remind him that there was more than just his lips that could be stimulated.

His lips moved down from there, and Blaine twirled each nipple with his tongue until it was erect and Kurt was a mess of whimpers and hushed 'please''s, his body arching up against Blaine's and his cock greedily rutting against Blaine's stomach.

"What do you want?" Blaine whispered upwards when he was kissing Kurt's stomach, marveling in the soft skin, with hair so fine and light it might have well as not existed at all.

"Like… like before… take me…"

One part of Blaine was surprised. He had never been rough in his lovemaking, but then again, that night was the first time he had ever been drunk and able to keep it up. For Kurt to ask for that also surprised him because Kurt was usually the one in control, seemingly happy to direct things.

The other part of Blaine was just completely excited by the thought of claiming Kurt like he had before.

Kurt reached over his head to the side, grabbing a little bottle of lube from the bedside drawer along with a condom. Blaine didn't miss the sight of the dildo that was also in the drawer, and the thought of Kurt using it on himself only made Blaine hotter.

He coated his fingers, rubbing them over Kurt's dusty pink entrance before slipping one finger in past the tight ring of muscle and watching Kurt's reaction. A whimper was followed up by a sharp whine out of Kurt's mouth, who had drawn up hand to his chest where he was rubbing a nipple while the other one reached down to pull one of his cheeks out to open himself up more to Blaine's intruding finger.

"Yeah… yeah…. more."

Blaine took in a sharp breath, feeling then like a teenager who was experimenting with someone else for the very first time. The way Kurt was just so sure about what he wanted, even if it was Blaine taking control, made Blaine feel inexperienced. Moreover, the sight of Kurt, who was now trying to roll his hips down so he could bury himself on Blaine's finger was overwhelming.

He slipped in a second finger, so easily and eagerly taken in by Kurt who thrust himself back and forth on Blaine's digits with no hesitation even though he was laying on his back and his strong, hard thighs had to do all the work.

"Fuck…" Blaine shook off a bead of sweat that had tried to trickle its way into his eye as he watched the scene with a held breath. He couldn't wait any longer. His fingers pulled out, ignoring the pleading whine of Kurt as he rolled a condom over his cock and lined it up to Kurt's ass.

From half-lidded eyes, Kurt looked down his own body to watch Blaine, hesitating because he wasn't sure if Kurt was truly stretched enough even though he felt like if he didn't move forward he would die. Kurt made the choice for them though, shoving himself down over the head of Blaine's cock and letting a broken cry fall from his lips. "Please. Pleasepleaseplease."

It was impossible to hold back any further then.

A hot rush fell over Blaine as he slid himself up into Kurt until he was balls deep and the skin of their crotches was flush against the other. Throughout it Kurt had keened and shuddered and begged for more.

"Fuck… just… fuck… fuck me already!" Kurt snapped up to Blaine, teeth gritted and eyes on fire when he realized Blaine was pausing for what he thought had been Kurt's benefit.

Blaine groaned and snapped his hips back before slamming them forward again. If Kurt really did want to be taken, Blaine could do that. He had been, after all, holding himself back, thinking that Kurt might want him to be gentle and careful. So much for that.

Each thrust was hard, and the bed squeaked with the wiggle of the mattress back and forth as Blaine found a rhythm that had Kurt reaching up to brace the headboard with one hand and grab the sheet with the other to stop him from being pushed around and away with the force of the cock being repeatedly buried in him.

God he was gorgeous.

Blaine must have found his prostate too because with each snap of his hips, Kurt whimpered and trembled below him predictably. The hand that had been clutching the sheets went to grab his own cock, probably to jerk himself off while Blaine fucked him, but Blaine had grabbed it with a hand of his own and moved it up above Kurt's head to join the other hand.

"You don't get to touch yourself."

Instead of Kurt arguing, Blaine was rewarded with a low moan and a hissed out "Yes" as Kurt kept his hands above his head once Blaine moved his hand back to Kurt's hips, lining his fingers back up with the bruises he had already pressed into the skin there, and continued to slam himself in and out of Kurt, the sweat trailing down the spine of his back, down his face, and along his chest.

Everything in him was ready to orgasm. His body was tense from holding back, his movements were getting increasingly frantic, and he was having to remind himself to breath. The sensation of being completely buried in Kurt was too much. He was tight, perfect, and so fucking deep.

Blaine just wanted Kurt to come first.

He kept beating his cock against the hard point within Kurt that made him flinch and suck in a breath each time he brushed against it. It took a couple minutes more, but Kurt tensed all around him, and god it was hard to hold back when that happened, spilling ropes of white spunk over his own chest and stomach as he cried out to the ceiling, a mix of curses and affirmations to the gods.

Then Blaine let himself go. One final push and he stilled within Kurt, choking his breath out and needing his hands braced on either side of Kurt to hold him aloft, Blaine came and harder than he'd ever remembered. It was like his very core had emptied itself into Kurt and with it, he was fatigued as soon as he was done, barely able to slip out of Kurt, take and tie off the condom, and roll onto his back beside the other man where he panted and tried to remember how to breath again.

For a few minutes, it was just panting and heavy breathing as the pair of them just laid there exhausted. Blaine felt he could drift off with no problem, the only thing keeping him awake at all was the worry that Kurt was expecting him to go now that he had served his purpose.

"You… you cleaned me off last time." Was the first thing Kurt said to him, having to say it between puffs of breaths.

Blaine blinked a few times as he tried to remember, his mind completely hazy, and then just opted to force himself upright to find a cloth or tissue to wipe them clean with. He couldn't have his drunken self outdoing his sober self.

Once Kurt was wiped down, Blaine looked down over him, laying lazily in his bed. It was only then that Blaine noticed the posters on the walls, various Broadway production posters, and all that he knew. He couldn't help but smile. He had seen, and loved, all those shows.

"Nap?"

Blaine glanced back down at Kurt, who was looking up at him. Was that an invitation or a request to leave so that Kurt could nap?

With a pat to the space that Blaine had left moments ago, the answer was made clear and Blaine, perhaps too eagerly, crawled in beside Kurt. "You know… I've never skipped a class before."

"First time for everything."

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Funny thing. Went to collect my Kurt from his finance class and discovered he was skipping._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Why is that funny?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Because Blaine wasn't there either._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_I have keys to Blaine's dorm room._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I have keys to Kurt's._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_This is not going to end well._


	23. Chapter 23

Kurt didn't fall asleep. Too full of caffeine and adrenaline, his body fought it even though he needed it. Instead he just stared at the boy beside him, who seemed to have no issue slumbering in a strange bed, as he alternated between lightly snoring and smacking his lips. Both things were on Kurt's unwritten list of pet peeves, but somehow he found it endearing on Blaine.

The same went for the body hair. Kurt made a point of keeping himself as trim as possible, and completely hairless wherever possible. He expected the same level of hygiene from any lover, and yet his fingers kept drifting to Blaine's rising and falling chest to play with the short dark curls that trailed down his torso.

Good god, was this love?

Kurt blanched at the thought. He had hoped that by screwing around with Blaine he would have alleviated the itch he'd been suffering for the past few months. Instead it made it all worse. It didn't make any rational sense either. Blaine wasn't Kurt's type - at least the type he had decided upon long ago. Blaine was short, hairy, and certainly didn't have an attractive foreign accent the way the man Kurt had long ago dreamed about would have. He was thoroughly unattractive when he ate, always talking with his mouth full and dripping sauce everywhere. He also owned far too many primary colored polo shirts.

Yet for every reason Kurt could think of for how wrong Blaine was for him, he couldn't help but grin whenever Blaine murmured something incomprehensible in his sleep or unconsciously reached to pull Kurt closer to him. Maybe it was the novelty of having someone spend the night he reasoned with himself. Yes, that had to be it. He'd always booted his one night stands out promptly after he was done with them.

So why hadn't he booted Blaine out then? Why on earth had he invited Blaine to his bed after they were done? How good was the sex that he had become so irrational?

The answer was - very good.

Kurt didn't usually bottom for starters. He preferred controlling the action and his experiences bottoming pre-Blaine had been awkward and left him without any enjoyment. With Blaine though, on both occasions, he had been able to let go of his domineering side and just enjoy himself. What was more was that Kurt was sure he'd never come harder in his life with Blaine. But was it worth the risk to have that enjoyment again if it meant having some kind of relationship. Kurt knew a great deal about sex, but virtually nothing about relationships.

His thoughts were put on hold though as a banging down the hall startled Blaine awake beside him, and, not knowing what else to do, Kurt snapped his own eyes shut and feigned that he was sleeping. If Blaine woke up, he would surely leave and Kurt didn't want to engage in any awkward post hook-up conversation. He had been through too many of those to want to have another. There was always the fumbling attempts of holding up a conversation, the suggestion that they "do this again", and then the slow push to get the other party out the door.

Blaine didn't move to leave though, much to Kurt's surprise. Instead there was a shift on the bed beside him as Blaine sat up for a moment and took in the surroundings, and then Kurt found himself being wrapped up in an arm and his forehead kissed gently as Blaine settled back down aside him.

It was unexpected, but certainly not unwelcome.

Kurt found himself melting into Blaine, fur and all, as he seemingly fell back asleep when his breath became shallow against Kurt's cheek. He could have happily spent the afternoon like that, if it wasn't for the interruption that came barging through his door unannounced.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!"  
"Oh my god! I can't! I mean… holy hell!"

The entrance of Santana and Quinn, without so much as a knock on the door, woke Blaine right back up and Kurt quickly reached to pull the blanket up to his neck even though he hadn't been exposed below the waist, hissing at the two females that had entered his room without reason. "What the hell?!"

Beside him Blaine groaned as he made eye contact with Santana and pulled the sheet up over his head, burying himself into the pillow aside Kurt and saying something that could vaguely be translated as "Why?"

Kurt's eyes snapped to Quinn when a flash went off and Kurt bared his teeth, damn near growling at Quinn as she looked down at her camera to check the picture she had just taken of them. "Get out!"

"Oh hell no. This is wanky as hell. I'm not leaving until you two start making out in front of me!" Santana said, smirk running across her face as she advanced further into Kurt's room without even asking for permission.

"Go away!" Came the muffled voice of Blaine beside him, still hiding below the sheets.

"I can't believe you Kurt! I told you! I honestly JUST told you earlier today about this being a bad idea…." Quinn uttered, eyes wide and head shaking as she gawked at him after looking up from her camera screen.

"Oh my god! Get out! This is completely unacceptable! I will alert the student residency coordinator and you will get in trouble!" Kurt threatened them as best as he could, even though he was well aware that they had all the power right then.

"Lookie here Quinn! Used condom and empty bottle of lube! Hot!" Santana called out, apparently opting to ignore Kurt as she poked around in the wastebasket with a ruler she had swiped off the desk.

"Ew."

"Can you not?!" Kurt bared his teeth, ready to jump up and expose all of himself if necessary at that point. This had all gone far enough.

"Someone had quite the load… I guess we'll know who when we see who's limping later…."

"Shut up Santana!" Blaine yelled from below.

"Oh the blackmail is going to be good on this…." Santana smirked, going back to Quinn who was still shaking her head at Kurt like her opinion mattered at that point. "... we'll see you two at practice… and then we talk."

Kurt glared at them until they left, Santana having to pull Quinn along. The door snapped closed behind them, and Kurt fell back into his pillow with a moan. Blaine chose that moment to pull the covers off his head and glanced over to Kurt with a half smile. "Hey."

Kurt looked back to the boy he had just been enjoying up until the invasion, unable to even force a smile. "I hate our friends."

Blaine chuckled and for a moment Kurt forgot the predicament he was in, sleeping with the enemy as Quinn would no doubt call it. That moment hinted at how easy it would be to just keep inviting Blaine to his bed, to ask for more, and for him to not have to worry about the repercussions of his lust.

"They're going to make unreasonable demands you know."

Blaine shrugged, "So?"

Kurt noticed the other boy had made no motion to get out of his bed at this point, so he slipped out and went to put on something simple, ever mindful of the fact that Blaine's eyes never left his body as he did.

"Do you even know either of them? They'll threaten to out this…" Kurt gestured between himself and Blaine, "...whatever this is… and we'll get in hell from our coaches."

Again Blaine shrugged, a rather maddening gesture for the moment, at least to Kurt. "So what? It's no secret that Santana and Brittany are together and they're on opposing teams. What should it matter if we are? There's no official rules against it… just some stupid competitive unwritten one."

Kurt sighed as he pulled a tank top over him and looked into his mirror. Before him was the picture of a boy that was clearly sporting bedhead, dark circles around his eyes, and hadn't really looked at himself below the surface in a damned long time. It would be too easy to just agree with Blaine and say to hell with it all. If there was one thing Kurt knew, it was that nothing was ever as easy as people might make things out to be. There was always a catch.

"We were just fooling around Blaine. It doesn't matter anyhow."

Eyes purposely averted, Kurt couldn't see how his words might have affected Blaine, and while he hoped for disappointment, he also knew he wouldn't be able to see relief if that was what Blaine was feeling.

He definitely didn't want to look if he spotted relief.

"I don't fool around Kurt." Blaine finally said after a second that took too long to pass. His tone deadly serious and somber. Kurt couldn't help but look back then to see Blaine was anything but relieved. If Kurt has to guess, based on how round Blaine's eyes were then, and how hard he was clutching the blanket, Kurt might have said that Blaine was probably feeling insulted.

"Well then what are you expecting from me Blaine…?" Kurt huffed, hands flipping out to either side. "... I'm the captain of the other cheer team, the biggest he-bitch around, probably going to end up in middle management one day where I'll hate my job, and clearly something of a slut. You think I'm relationship material?"

Blaine frowned as he looked back at Kurt with those ever calculating amber eyes while Kurt breathed deeply. He was being self deprecating and he knew it, but if Blaine wasn't going to take the easy way out of his room, then Kurt would have to be a little bit more forceful.

"None of that bothers me Kurt."

"Well it should."

Blaine shrugged and Kurt groaned, turning away from him to grab a comb and work on making his hair decent before practice. He hated shrugging. It was the most ambiguous and irritating gesture of them all. The equivalent of saying whatever for body language.

There was a shuffling behind him, and Kurt breathed in relief as he finally figured Blaine was taking the hint and going, but Blaine ended up being reflected in the mirror behind him, setting a hand on each of Kurt's shoulders from behind as Kurt watched his jaw drop in the mirror.

"You're not just those things Kurt… and it's not up to you to decide what I think is relationship material, so unless you outright tell me you're completely disinterested in me, I'm not going to stop Kurt. I like you."

Kurt flushed right up, wishing his pale skin didn't look so blotchy when it reddened, especially when he was in a state where he had to see himself. Blaine just stayed in place though, waiting for a response while looking into the mirror at Kurt's reflected eyes. Kurt should have told him he wasn't interested. That he was never interested. That it was all just done for fun.

But Kurt didn't say a thing.

* * *

**_Quintessental_ **   
_Nice tag-teaming there Snix._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Good on you for slipping the key into his lock without him hearing!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Did I miss something? Are we all one big team now?_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Oh! That would be so much fun!_


	24. Chapter 24

It took a lot of Blaine's courage to be direct with Kurt, but he definitely didn't regret the outcome. Sure Kurt hadn't really acknowledged that he wanted more than just a couple romps in the sack, but he also didn't outright reject Blaine either. Blaine had put everything on the line, or, at least everything that mattered in that moment on the line in that instant and he came out feeling like he had won a minor victory.

Victory over what was another matter. He knew he had spent the better part of winter holidays thinking about Kurt after their drunken rendezvous, and even more time thinking about him in the week leading up to their impromptu run through the campus to have sex again just today, but when he honestly began to think about the question, he didn't know if he wanted a relationship.

Kurt. Yes. He knew he wanted Kurt. That much he had figured out by the way his dick always reacted whenever Kurt was nearby. It was like an uncontrollable homing beacon that would point towards Kurt. But a relationship?

Maybe it was the way Kurt had degraded himself, and despite it being completely disparaging, Kurt wasn't totally wrong. He was kind of an asshole, and he a reputation as someone who slept around without regret. As for his future, Blaine couldn't comment on that more than knowing that Kurt was a theater major and a finance minor. Finance must have been the back up plan for Kurt, and one he wasn't keen on given his words.

But for all those things, Blaine was sure there was good in Kurt, if only from what Santana had told him once earlier. He also knew that Kurt was probably just as stressed with his existence as Blaine felt with his own at SCU. It wasn't the college life he had hoped for.

They had gotten dressed in relative silence after the girls had burst in, and then proceeded to practice. Today Kurt was in the gym and Blaine was on the field so they parted with an awkward little wave and continued on their own paths, Blaine glancing back to see Kurt trying to walk as plainly as he could to hide any suggestion that he was the one that bottomed. It made Blaine grin just a little.

"I can't believe you." Kitty hissed towards Blaine in a whisper as he joined the Spartans and Coach Washington took her place in front of them to yell about how they could stand to "suck less" and "be less disappointing".

"Santana told you?!" Blaine whispered back a little too loudly, earning a glare from Coach Washington to which he quickly murmured "Sorry."

"Everyone does." Kitty whispered once Coach was back on her diatribe.

Blaine frowned and looked over the group. Sure enough people averted their eyes from him as soon as he looked towards them. They had been staring at him, making whispers of his own. He was the focus of the gossip.

"How the hell does everyone know already?"

"Thank the age we live in and all the social media."

Blaine huffed, avoiding hiding his face in his palms even though it seemed to him the most evident thing to do. The gossip in college was worse than it had ever been in high school.

Granted, he had gone to all all boys high school. The most gossip that happened there was when the custodians had changed the brand of toilet papers in the bathrooms and his friends with self proclaimed sensitive behinds were outraged that they no longer had two ply paper for their bathroom breaks.

The practice was more loathsome than it normally was with Blaine consistently hearing whispers at his back and Santana and Kitty both eyeing him up, Santana with a smirk and Kitty with a grimace. Why was it anyone else's business who he slept with anyhow?

He was just glad the locker rooms weren't co-ed at the end of practice so he could escape all the catty women in his life for at least a while.

"Quinn and I will see you at the coffee shop in a half hour! Remember!" Santana preened as she slapped him on the back with a chuckle. What she was planning wasn't clear to Blaine, especially since everyone apparently already knew and there was nothing her or Quinn could hold over them as far as he could figure.

The guys were less interested in the details of his love life, rushing through the act of getting washed up and out to whatever social event or homework they needed to attend to and thankfully giving Blaine some much needed alone time in the locker room to try and collect his thoughts as he had a very long shower, taking advantage of the heat in the athletics building that just didn't exist in his dorm room bath.

"Anyone left from your team?"

Blaine glanced up from looking at the tiles where he had zoned out and behind him to where Kurt had cracked open the curtain and was peeking in at him.

"I… ah… no. Just me."

"Good."

Kurt swooped in then, naked and pressing Blaine back against those same tiles he had been staring at with his palms pressed against Blaine's chest. It took an 'omph', a moment of confusion, and keeping his eyes trained on Kurt who knelt down to figure out what was happening.

"Kurt, I… Oh!"

Blaine hadn't even had a chance to get hard since Kurt's unexpected reveal, but with Kurt's mouth suddenly wrapped around his cock it didn't take him long to get that way. He slapped a hand back against the wall, gasping and mouthing words that didn't escape him or even filter clearly through his mind as Kurt rolled his tongue around the head of his dick, slipping it over the slit and then rubbing the rougher top against his frenulum where it was the most sensitive.

His eyes winced shut and Blaine had to remind himself to breath, doing so in shallow shudders through his parted lips as he focused on how Kurt was pushing his lips lower and lower over him, never loosening the hold of his mouth as he was buried further into a new part of Kurt. When Blaine opened his eyes again to look down, he had to hold his breath. Below him Kurt had taken most of his now quite alert cock down his mouth and throat and was looking up at Blaine through a fan of light brown lashes with those gorgeous blue-green eyes. Blaine focused on committing the scene to memory because he was sure he had never seen anything so beautiful.

Kurt purposely hummed then, the action sending a delightful vibration through his cock and sending spikes of pleasure up his body through the nerves. How long had it been since someone had done this for him?

The answer didn't matter because any of Blaine's ability to form a sensical thought went right out the window as Kurt began to bob his head back and forth, one hand holding Blaine's hip to keep him still and the other massaging his balls. Fingers wove around the loose skin there, grabbing and rolling with just the perfect amount of pressure - not too hard too hurt, and not too loose to make it disinteresting. Kurt knew what he was doing.

It was no surprise then that as Kurt picked up momentum, Blaine quickly reached the edge, gasping and sputtering as he inadvertently swallowed some water from the shower still spraying over him as he tried to warn Kurt. All that Kurt did though was bat his eyelashes upwards and keep going, the hand on Blaine's hips coming free so that Kurt could wrap it around his own cock and jerk himself off as Blaine finally let loose a moan and banged his head back against the wall as his bucked his hips forward with the freedom and froze there, spilling out into Kurt's mouth.

Kurt kept going for a moment longer, until Blaine went soft and couldn't help but chuckle at the feeling of Kurt's mouth on him, so ticklish there after being so sensitive. Kurt's mouth was peeled off him and Kurt stood up beside him, licking his swollen red lips with a wry grin.

"Did you…?" Blaine glanced down as Kurt nodded, noting his own cock was soft now too and he was washing his hand off in the spray of the shower. "... Jesus…"

"Move over. I need to wash."

Just like that Kurt had managed to traverse the odd space between being two-time hook-up's to being casual, intimate partners. He playfully hip butted Blaine to the side in order to get the benefit of the shower, despite there being plenty of free showers around, and used Blaine's own shampoo and soap to clean himself off.

"Did I… just dream that or…." Blaine finally stammered, awkwardly trying to get himself clean as he stared at Kurt.

"Are you asking if I really just blew you in here?" Kurt queried, glancing back to Blaine. "Yeah."

"At the risk of sounding ungrateful… which I'm not… can I ask what prompted that?"

Kurt smirked at Blaine. "Just felt like it."

"Just felt like it…" Blaine echoed with a small, disbelieving shake of his head.

"What? No one ever blow you before?"

"Uh… " Blaine blushed a little. "Well.. yes.. but I mean… it always came with a catch…"

"Oh?"

"Like… I get a blow job if I help them study or something…"

Kurt laughed at that, so hard he ended up snorting which led to him hiding the bottom half of his face in embarrassment. It was utterly adorable and Blaine reached over to peel the hands off Kurt's face and dip in closer. "Do you need help with finance?"

Kurt shook his head, glancing at his hands which he was allowing Blaine to hold and then back up to Blaine. It was a day of risk-taking, Blaine decided, and bent his head up so he could press his lips to Kurt's in a sweet, chaste kiss.

"Thank you then." Blaine murmured against Kurt's chin once he broke back away, eyes flickering up to Kurt's who seemed frozen in surprise.

"You…. you're welcome."

* * *

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Are the rumors true? Is Blaine having a baby?_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Guys can't get pregnant Brit…_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_But everyone is saying he and Kurt were making babies! I know how babies are made!_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Unfortunately no Brit. They used protection._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Like a wall or a moat? Or kevlar body armor?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_This one is all yours Snix._


	25. Chapter 25

Kurt had never really been a fan of the coffee joint on campus. It was too trendy, filled with electronic beats that, while fine on their own, was too much for him first thing in the mornings when he would buy himself a cup. Still, the coffee was decent; certainly better than the instant stuff he hoarded in his dorm room, and anything was better than the brown schlop the cafeteria tried to pass off as coffee.

He and Blaine walked alongside one another on the way there, quiet and sharing the occasional glance to one another. Everytime Blaine would catch Kurt looking, and Kurt would get a grin from the curly haired boy. Blowjobs were amazing things. They made anyone easier to get along with.

Not that he had done it for that reason. He had truly felt like giving Blaine head when he realized Blaine was alone in that locker room. He also understood what Blaine had been talking about though when he asked if it came with a catch. For any other guy Kurt would have done it to procure a favor.

"Let's not go."

Blaine's eyes flashed over to Kurt, confusion settling into those golden orbs so quickly Kurt knew that Blaine would never truly be capable of lying because those eyes gave away everything. "But what about….?"

"I can't think of anyone who would have anything to hold against me Blaine… do you?"

Blaine shook his head, "No… I mean… maybe when my parents had their company and everything… but the Anderson name isn't worth a dime anymore… and I had deftly tried to avoid making enemies my whole life…."

"Then screw 'em. They have nothing on us."

"Except for pictures."

Kurt shrugged, trying to act like that wasn't a big deal. So long as they stayed out of the hands of his dad, he was alright with that. Let the girls see that he wasn't a total prude.

"Are you really okay with it Kurt? I know I am… I was just… going because I thought that maybe they had something on you…"

Kurt chuckled softly. "Your chivalry knows no bounds."

"I'm being honest."

"I know."

They detoured, to no place in particular except away from the coffee shop, quiet once more until they came to the arboretum. Stepping inside, Kurt sat on one of the benches under an old looking tree with Blaine settling in beside him. "I'm going about this all wrong."

"Oh?"

Blaine nodded, leaning forward and looking towards the mossy stone under his feet as he spoke. "I should have asked you out first… we should have danced and had dinner and then.. several dates later… maybe…."

Kurt arched a brow up, "Really? What century are you from Blaine?"

"I don't think the idea of courting someone is old fashioned Kurt."

"So you regret what we've done."

"Yes… No!" Blaine groaned and wiped his palms over his forehead and back over his hair in exasperation. "I mean I… shit…"

"Well don't worry about it then. Chalk it up to a college learning experience."

Blaine looked back over his shoulder towards Kurt, trying so hard to be casual about it all. "Really? Just that?"

Kurt nodded stiffly.

Again Blaine looked away, out at the flowers growing in a central garden. "I don't regret you.. just the way it happened."

Kurt's heart fluttered, and with Blaine not looking his way he was able to rub the sore spot it made on his chest as it wobbled under his ribs. It took everything to try and stay collected with that revelation. "I… "

"You don't have to reciprocate Kurt. I get that's not your style. It's okay…"

Just like that Kurt's heart went from fluttering in his chest feather like to dropping like a stone on his stomach. "Not my style… you mean you think I'm a happy to throw myself around… without any strings attached…"

"Well…" Blaine's fumbling for a response just made the rock on Kurt's stomach grow denser.

"Whatever." Kurt stood up, Blaine following his lead until Kurt lifted a hand, palm out towards him, "Don't worry about it. You're right. I enjoy sleeping around without having to suffer through the motions of silly romance. I was wrong to not say anything earlier, so I'll say it now - I'm not interested Blaine."

Kurt watched those tell-all eyes, trying to decipher them as they went wide and then small in matter of microseconds. Shock maybe? Relief? Sadness? He walked away before Blaine's mouth could form a response, trying to remain as stiff as possible with all his movements until he was out of Blaine's sight.

Then he ran.

Ran back to his dorm where he closed the door, propping a door up under the door handle just in case Quinn had any bright ideas about busting in again. The bed was stripped down, all memory and scent of Blaine erased like that, and Kurt crawled up and under his spare blanket to hide from the world as best as he could.

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_I can't believe those jerks ditched us!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I can't believe you actually had no plan for those pictures._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_I just wanted to make them sweat a little._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Judging by the state of Kurt's room this morning, that was already accomplished._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Ew._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Besides, I have a plan for those pictures. Scrapbook!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I love traveling down memory lane._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. Exceptionally short chapter. I had written a much longer chapter yesterday which, upon rereading, I promptly declared as shit and garbaged. I will write another chapter post-haste to make up for this one! Remember to review when you read! Let me know what you think!


	26. Chapter 26

Blaine was sure things had been going good.

Of course, then he opened his mouth and had screwed it all up. What it all was that he screwed up though was a mystery. He and Kurt hadn't been more than a two time…. two and a half time?... thing. Yet the connection that he felt in each of those instances was unparalleled. There was something about being with Kurt that he had never experienced with anyone else. Call it magnetism, or natural attraction, or maybe even something as decisive as fate, Blaine was sure there was more to what he felt about Kurt than just simple lust.

"It's lust baby brother. Pure and simple."

Blaine rolled his eyes. In the absence of anyone else to talk to about his predicament, he had called his older brother, hoping against hope that Cooper might have a small piece of wisdom to help him figure it all out.

"You had killer sex by the sounds of things… and about damn time. You wouldn't even tell me about those other guys which I presume meant they were horrendous in the sack - "

"I didn't tell you because you're my brother Coop." Blaine interrupted in defense… even though Cooper wasn't exactly far from the truth.

"Anyhow. You're in college man. Live a little. Enjoy the scene. Have tons of great sex and then come out here and be my wingman. College isn't for finding your one true love or whatever Disney value system you somehow believe in. Hell, college isn't good for much except for college girls… or guys in your case."

Blaine sighed. Cooper never had understood his insistence on higher education, especially since he had done alright with running to Los Angeles after high school. Cooper had never gotten along with their parents, despite being their golden child. He wanted the spotlight that came with Hollywood, and his parents didn't see it as a respectable career.

Suffice it to say that family get togethers were chilly.

"I don't know why I called you Coop…."

"Because you know you can't talk to mom and dad about this stuff? Hell, only reason they're okay with you now is because you saved their asses after the whole bankruptcy thing. I kind of almost wish they still had the company and those pictures of you with Chris -"

"Kurt."

"- Kurt in your bed leaked. Would have been hilarious… for me anyhow."

"Good to know you have my best interests at heart Coop." Blaine deadpanned.

"Whatever… they got what was coming to them… fighting that stupid court battle over their homophobic human resources policy just to try and make you feel like crap. It bit their asses in the end… and then you… you dummy… saved those asses."

"They're my parents Coop."

"Mine too. But they didn't deserve saving."

Blaine shrugged, though Cooper couldn't see it. "As always Coop… we'll disagree on that topic…"

"Right… your sex life issue."

"I believe I introduced it as a love life issue."

"Overrated."

The call went no where, and Blaine wasn't sure why he was surprised at that. Cooper had yet to have a relationship lasting more than a night. As soon as he hung up the call, a text came through.

_having kinky sex? - Santana_

_No. - Blaine_

_aww too bad - Santana_

Blaine rolled his eyes. Why his non-existent relationship with Kurt was more exciting to Santana than her own very existent relationship with Brittany was mind boggling.

Granted… Santana did have a relationship. He called her as soon as the thought hit him.

"If you're not having Kurt slam into you I'm not interested in what you're doing." Santana said by way of a phone greeting.

"What if I'm calling to tell you I don't know what to do about him?"

"Hmph. Still not as interesting."

"Even if I'm calling for your advice?"

There was a pause, and then, "It'll cost you."

"Name your price."

"Exclusive information."

Blaine sighed. "That's what I was going to give you anyhow…."

Through the phone, Santana whooped and Blaine cringed, feeling like he was making some kind of deal with the devil. He told her everything though, ignoring her intermittent comments of "Wanky" and "Hot" when it got to the more explicit parts of the tale, and waiting through her silence when he got to the part about Kurt suddenly dumping him in the arboretum that afternoon.

"You… are such.. an idiot Blaine."

"Really? That's all you've got for me?"

"Kurt has been all about romance since I first laid eyes on him. All that's happened is that he's covered up that mushy side of himself with a thick, brick wall. I ever tell you what happened back in high school?"

"Besides endless drama?"

"Because of the endless drama actually…. I used to be part of their core group… me, Quinn, Brit, and Kurt. The Unholy Quartet. I wasn't honest with myself back then… I loved Brit then, but wouldn't be with her because I wasn't out. I was using this guy, the same guy that had been bullying Kurt relentlessly even when he was part of our group, as a beard because he needed a beard just as badly if not more."

"He was a self hating homosexual…"

"Exactly. Had a huge crush on Kurt too. Probably why he picked on him the worst. Third grade antics really… Anyhow. The guy made a move on Kurt, and Kurt gave him unholy shit in front of everyone at school, effectively outing the guy and me in the process. To say we ended up fighting was an understatement and I just ended up stop hanging out with them aside from practices. It hurt too badly. Kurt apologised… over and over… and I forgave him a long time ago, but it was never the same. Especially when the guy transferred and someone at his new school found out about what had happened…"

"Oh…"

"Yeah. He was tormented pretty badly. Dose of his own medicine Quinn said once… except he wasn't tough like Kurt. He tried hanging himself. His dad found him in time. Kurt hasn't been the same since. Frigid but easy all in one… which is nothing like what he used to be. I think he does it to punish himself."

"So you're trying to tell me…."

"Kurt doesn't think he's worthy of anything else. If you like him Blaine, then make a damned decisive move. None of this weak half-assed bullshit."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Just figure it out so I don't have to deal with your mopiness while we're practicing out in the snow."

"Snow?"

"Yes. Snow. Were you blind and senseless this afternoon in the field. It's the middle of winter dumbass."

"Huh…" Blaine tried to think back to practice, but the only memories that surfaced were him thinking about his situation with Kurt and the gossiping going on as a result of it… and the blowjob… that was quite the spectacular memory.

"Geeze. You really do have it bad."

"I guess… see you tomorrow?"

"Like I have a choice." Santana huffed before there was a click and the line went dead, leaving Blaine looking at his phone and wondering.

Now what?

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_How's your boy Quinn?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Won't let me into his room. Yours?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Worse than any guy I've ever met when it comes to figuring out the unspoken._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_What are we going to do then?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_We?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Yes. We. The plural._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Sleepover?_

**_KittyKorner_ **   
_I'm in!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Not what I meant… but sure. Let's have a ladies night planning session._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_So I get to spend all night with a trio of hot women but I don't get to play with their lady parts? Ugh. I guess._


	27. Chapter 27

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel! You open this door right now or I will call your father!"

Kurt hadn't moved since the day before, aside from creeping to his private bathroom to relieve himself - but taking the blanket with him as a shield. It gave him security he'd never felt the need for before. With everything he'd done and gone through, he had always been able to make his own walls for protection. Now though, he felt totally exposed and vulnerable.

"You wouldn't dare Quinn!"

"Oh yah?!"

He heard a beep outside his door, then another, and a third, and it clicked that she was calling his father right outside his door. In a panicked rush he stumbled out from under his blanket and ran towards the door, tripping on the blanket which had wound itself around one of his feet and hitting the floor hard.

There was a moment of silence, and then Quinn asked "You alive still?"

"Fuck… yes… I fell…" Kurt groaned and used the wall for support as he stood up, pulling the chair away from the door and opening it up for Quinn. "What the hell do you want?"

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel… have you allowed yourself to grow some stubble?"

Kurt reached up to rub over his chin. They were just barely sprouting, but the hairs were there. "So?"

"I didn't know you could do that…" She pushed past him and closed the door, tossing a bag on the bed. "Come on. You can't miss practice. Classes are one thing, but cheer is another."

"Tell Coach I'm sick."

"Coach was one second away from coming here to retrieve you herself. Between the now JBI newsworthy article on your "blossoming romance" with Blaine Anderson and then finding out you have skipped some classes… well, she is none too pleased with you right now."

Kurt groaned and crawled back into the safety of his bed, ignoring the bag as he burrowed his way back under his blanket. "I supposed I should thank you?"

"You should. I told her I'd talk sense into you."

"Great. Now leave me alone."

"I told her I'd drag you kicking and screaming, if necessary, to practice."

"Don't feel good."

The sound of the blankets being whipped off Kurt seemed to precede them actually being taken away from him, and he cried out softly, grabbing in a fruitless effort to try and pull them back. He needed them.

"In all our years Kurt… not once have I ever known you to sleep with a guy twice."

"I know. I'm an idiot… now give me back my blankets."

"You are an idiot. You also like him."

"And he thinks I just hooked up with him to score. Give me back my blankets."

"You're both idiots. Get up. You're going to jeopardize your scholarship."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do."

Kurt sighed, draping the back of his hand over his eyes. "No Quinn. I really don't. Winter holidays assured me of that. Being away from cheer… being with my dad. You know why I went to SCU instead of NYU right?"

"Because it would be closer to your dad."

"Yet I don't think I see him more being here than I would have if I went to NYU. I shouldn't have ever taken up the scholarship…."

"Your family didn't have the money though…."

"I could have taken out a loan…. or, hell, I could have worked with all the hours I put into cheer anyhow. Dad always said we could sell my Navigator to help pay for things…"

"You're not serious Kurt…."

"I don't think I've ever been more serious… I used to think cheer was everything… hell… just a few weeks ago I thought that…"

"And then?"

"Then I hurt myself and saw that cheer went on without me. No one cared Quinn. Hell… you know I never stayed in cheer in high school because I particularly liked it anyhow. It was protection for me. It kept me popular. It kept me from being teased by most people."

There was a squeak as Quinn sat on the edge of the bed, the too thin mattress pad shifting slightly under her weight. "What about Blaine… how does he factor into all of this?"

Kurt sighed. How indeed. "If I let myself get caffeine sober enough to think about it clearly, I think I'd wonder where the hell he was in high school when I needed someone who wanted to court me… now all he knows me as is the campus whore."

"That's not true…."

"... I need to get away."

"But… the semester has just started. Your courses… cheer…."

"Will go on without me. I've figured that much out on my own."

"You'd just up and quit? Just like that?"

Kurt shrugged, peering out from under the skin of his arm to Quinn who looked completely flustered by his epiphanies. "Yeah. I think I would."

"And do what?"

"Go home for the rest of the year… help my dad at the shop… save up and apply to NYU again. Go somewhere where I have a shot at a fresh start… where I can remember who the hell I am… was…."

"Jesus Kurt. You couldn't have waited until summer break to realize all this?"

"Sorry Quinn…."

Kurt pushed himself up to sit, feeling lighter as so much was off his chest now. Quinn was staring down at the floor, poking it with the toe of her shoe. "Blaine really does like you…."

Kurt looked away from his friend, towards the closet, already mentally planning out how to pack his things. "He doesn't even know me… not really…. how would you know that anyhow?"

"Santana and I have been in cahoots."

"Well… I'm glad you two are getting along again anyhow… even if it is bonding over my pathetic love life."

"I just can't picture you without a uniform Kurt… without… yelling at people to stay in formation…"

Kurt chuckled at that, and though she hadn't meant it as a joke, Quinn joined in with a giggle of her own.

"What did Santana say he said about me…?"

"Going to play this high school game Hummel?" Quinn mused, a smirk crossing her ever lovely features.

"Yeah. We are. Dish."

"He thinks he's an idiot who's screwed up everything. He's deciding what kind of grand gesture he could make towards you to try and woo you…."

"Really? Grand gesture huh?"

Quinn nodded plainly, eyes flicking away as Kurt looked over her face. "What did you do Fabray?"

"Well… Santana and I… and Brit and Kitty… well we might have come up with some ideas and forwarded them to him."

Kurt's jaw dropped, and then he smacked his palm over his eyes and began laughing maniacally. It was too much. It was every silly show he had ever watched from The Parent Trap to The Little Mermaid all rolled into one… sex aside of course. His friends plotting ways to get them together while both of them were miserably apart.

"You sound like a crazy person Kurt."

Kurt managed to calm his chuckles and shook his head. "Not that it isn't appreciated. Nice to know you all care so much… but… I need to figure myself out first."

"How cliche."

"Cliche… but true."

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Abort mission! I repeat! Abort mission!_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Mission? We were on a mission? The religious kind or the submarine kind?_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I don't like being underwater._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_I think she's talking about the Kurt and Blaine thing._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Kurt's dropping out._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_WHAT?!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Statistically speaking, drop-outs make significantly less over the course of their life. It doesn't make sense to drop out._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Tell him he can't!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I tried. He's having one of those 'coming of age' moments._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Well shit. There goes all our hard work._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_What hard work? We wrote down everything we've ever heard Kurt say he likes, emailed it to Blaine, and then watched Orange is the New Black all night because things weren't "hot" enough for you Santana._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_I have an idea… let's all commit misdemeanors and see if women's prison is really that much fun._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Or not…_

**_Samcconaughey_ **   
_This conversation is so hot._

**_JBIatSCU_ **   
_Agreed._


	28. Chapter 28

Blaine surveyed the outfits he had placed on his bed carefully.  Was the yellow too much?  Was the navy too subdued?  Was the red… too red?  Did he want to stand out or be classy?  Was it even possible to be both?

With a sigh he glanced back to his computer, switching the song that had been playing as he decided it was too melancholic.  He didn’t want sad.  Nor did he want anything excessively chipper he decided as he switched onto the next song after that one when the rush of drums and guitars picked up immediately.  Something serious… but heartfelt.  He needed that.

The door clicked, and without looking up, Blaine knew it was Santana.  Only she had a key after all, and she was no doubt there to check on his progress.  Sure enough, she announced herself not a moment later by means of a hushed, “Oh my… what the hell….?”.

His room was a mess, more so than normal anyhow.  Outfits that he had decided were a no were on the floor, notes pinned to the walls all over the place, and in his haste he had managed to throw a pair of underwear which now hung from the light bulb on the ceiling, providing a bit of ambiance to the otherwise too bright room.

“I’m trying to decide on an outfit.”

“Oh.  Is that all.  Here I thought a tornado passed through your room and your room alone.  Really though… does it take that much effort?  You could have probably put a bow on your dick and it would have sufficed.”

Blaine sighed.  “No… no… I want to… I want to make sure he gets it…”  Again he turned, switching the song.  Too plain.

“Well don’t bother.  He’s gone.”

Blaine glanced up from his clothing and to Santana, eyes wide.  “What?  Gone?  Gone where?  When’s he back?”

“He dropped out.  Quinn just told me.  He’s going back home to live with his dad until the fall I guess.”

Blaine let his jaw hang open, spinning in place as he looked over his ramshackle room.  The outfits, the music, the money tucked to the side for a bouquet, the choreography moves pinned to the wall… it had all been part of his planning for Kurt.  He wanted Kurt to know that he saw him as more, much more, than an easy ride.  True he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted, but he knew it included Kurt… 

“Why would he drop out?  He’s captain of the Sirens… the lead in every play… does well in all his classes…”

“Apparently the cherub had a series of epiphanies and they couldn’t wait until after you got down on one knee.”  Santana hummed, poking through Blaine’s playlist until something bouncy came on.  “Good news is that apparently he likes you.  Probably would have said yes to whatever the hell you were planning on asking him.”

“Well that’s fucking great…..”  Blaine growled, swiping the clothes on his bed aside and plopping himself down.  “.... now what…”

“Now you find someone new to knock knees with?  I don’t know.”

“Why would he just… go… why not stick it out for the rest of the semester….”

“Hey though!  Good news is that the Sirens just lost their major player!  We could totally score some first place spots.”

“Doesn’t matter to me Santana….”

“Really?  You bang twice and you’re going to sulk like it’s the end of the world?”

Blaine shrugged his shoulders up.  “It wasn’t just…”  He broke his statement up with a sigh.  How could he ever hope to explain how he felt when even he couldn’t come up with the words to describe his feelings?  There was some kind of connection, a line, a tie that seemed to bind him to Kurt invisibly.  “... he wasn’t just a random hook up Santana.”

“Uh huh… Hey, can I have this gum?”

Blaine just nodded, staring off into the fibers of the carpet as Santana helped herself to several other items on his desk.  Did he just give up now?  It would seem pretty damned weird to pursue Kurt to anyone looking at them.  Their relationship had been more angry than kind, and the extent of that kindness had been limited to the bedroom.  He’d probably look like some kind of stalker if he tried.  But he also couldn’t deny what he felt.

“Where does his dad live Santana?”

There was a pop as Santana’s gum bubble that she had been working on covered her lips and she pulled the sticky, pink goo back into her mouth with the edges of her teeth.  “Oh no.  You’re not running out to his house and going all crazy there.  Burt would pull out his shotgun.”

Blaine shook his head.  “I wasn’t going to go out there… but I thought.. maybe… I could call him there?”

Santana rolled her eyes and slid into the chair in front of Blaine’s computer.  “How about I just add him for you on facebook?”

“That’d be a start.”  Blaine said softly, perking up just a little with the knowledge that he could continue his connection, however minutely, to Kurt in some way.

“His dad’s kind of a papa bear by the way.  I’m not kidding about the shotgun.”

Blaine forced up a smile, trying to conjure up an image of what Kurt’s dad must look like.  The shotgun threw him for a loop though as he pictured an older version of Kurt in the latest style.  There was no way a shotgun fit in with that image.

“There.  Facebook friends.  He accepted right away.  Clearly must like you.  Too bad facebook doesn’t have a relationship option of ‘Fucked, sucked, and obsessed with’... how about engaged to….?”

“Gah!  Off!”  Blaine jumped to life, not so gently nudging Santana out of the chair so she wouldn’t do anything that would ruin his chances.  

Santana just laughed it off and then said her goodbye’s, threatening him with a housekeeper if he didn’t clean his room up before she came by again and leaving Blaine to sit in front of his computer and try to figure out what to send to Kurt.

*boop!*

It turned out Blaine didn’t have to start the conversation because, up on his screen, Kurt already had.

** Kurt Hummel: Hello stranger. **

Blaine grinned, typing back enthusiastically.

** Blaine Anderson: Hey yourself. **

 

* * *

_** Quintessential   
** Can you believe it?  He’s gone no less than an hour and someone else claimed and moved into his room. _

_** KittysKorner   
** Is the guy hot at least?  I mean… if you have a key anyhow… _

_** Quintessential   
** Ew.  No.  He’s chess team. _

_** FondueForMew   
** What’s wrong with chess? _

_** Quintessential   
** Nothing… nothing… nevermind. _


	29. Chapter 29

Kurt giggled madly as he looked at the screen, needing to bring his fist up to his mouth to try and stem the flow of chuckles falling from his lips before it turned into an outright guffaw.

“What’s got you so entertained Kurt?”

The man in question looked over to his dad, now hovering in his bedroom doorway and looking towards Kurt with a half smile.  He’d been getting a lot of that look since Kurt had returned home, much to his surprise.  He had been sure his dad would have been disappointed in him for quitting, for not sticking it out when he essentially had a free pass on his education, but instead his dad just accepted him back with open arms, accepting his explanation and reasoning (though the trimmed version from what he had told Quinn) and putting his name on the shop schedule.

“Just… a friend.  Telling jokes.”  Kurt said, eyes flitting away from making contact with his father’s who made a knowing “Mmmhmm.” before wandering off down the hall.

Kurt Hummel: Sorry.  Dad stopped by my room.

Blaine Anderson: That’s okay.  You need to go?

Kurt Hummel:  No.  Don’t start work for an hour.  Tell me more about what Santana and Quinn were arguing over.

Talking over the internet was easy.  While they seemed to respond to each other’s messages instantly, there was still a pause afforded to Kurt so he could think about what he was going to say.  Something he usually wasn’t afforded in face to face interactions, and something that he wished for given how many needless arguments he had jumped into without thinking.  He hadn’t been sure when a friend request from Blaine Anderson had shown up on his phone three weeks ago, less sure when he saw the accompanying message that said “This is Santana.  Add Blaine before he turns into a weeping sack of man mess.  I can’t deal with this.”, but he hadn’t regretted it.  That first day he had chatted amicably with Blaine for over an hour, all the while snooping through his posted photos and old statuses.  

In a way it was like the two of them were starting fresh, and Kurt could be free now to express himself the way he wanted to without his wall blocking the space between them.  Sure there was the awkward mentioned of “those times” but now Kurt knew more about Blaine Anderson, and had realized there was more to appreciate than just how good of a lay he was.  

For example, Blaine shared his love of classic (and current for that matter) Broadway hits.   Blaine had been in a show choir for most of his high school career, something that wasn’t available to Kurt but that he had always wished he could have participated in.  They both had lackluster first times, but didn’t dwell on them.  Blaine even had most of Kurt’s favorite songs on his playlist.  

He wasn’t perfect though.  He had a strange bird fetish, always posting the most random pictures of birds he found interesting or pretty where most people would post pictures of cats doing funny things.  All the videos of Blaine singing from his high school days had featured pop hits (though his voice was incredibly melodic), and he had a weird aversion to playing those little time wasting games online that kept Kurt occupied whether he was waiting in traffic, sitting on the toilet, or waiting for the caffeine to wear off in bed.  Kurt had really hoped Blaine would have been interested in those games so he’d have one more friend to trade items with in game.

His sleep had gotten much better since he had returned him.  Carole had confiscated all his caffeine pills, giving him holy hell over reduced bone density, anxiety, and urinary issues to which his dad followed suite.  Left acquiring caffeine the “normal way” through coffee and coke, he didn’t take in as much and found he was a lot less restless and had actually been able to get full nights of sleep.

It had been after one of those full nights of sleep that his dad had awoken his yesterday, saying a package had arrived for him in the mail.  Not expecting anything, and sure it was just his dad’s way of telling him to get his butt out of bed, Kurt had gone through his usual morning routine before going downstairs and being greeted with a bouquet of yellow roses.

“They’re beautiful Kurt!”  Carole had preened, already setting them up in a vase and making less than subtle suggestions that Burt should buy her flowers now and then.

The card had been from Blaine, saying that yellow represented friendship and he was glad that he could be friends with Kurt.  How Blaine had gotten his address was only a mystery for a minute with Quinn texting and asking if he’d gotten anything special in the mail that morning.

The girls had continued to be much too invested in trying to get him and Blaine together.  Santana had told Kurt on several occasions about how much Blaine talked about him, also making note of all of Blaine’s qualities, which in her mind included a “hefty package”.  Meanwhile, Quinn had been consistent in suggesting that Kurt come visit them on campus during parties that Blaine would coincidentally also be attending.

“I get that he likes me… and I like him too.  I just need some time to figure out who I am without anyone else.  I mean… it’s not like we’re in this constant state of agony where we don’t think the other person likes them even though they do.  It’s not like in all those teen romance novels.”  He had told the both of them.

Not that it stopped them from trying.

** Kurt Hummel: So… the flowers… **

** Blaine Anderson: I was wondering if you had gotten them. **

** Kurt Hummel:  I did.  Yesterday morning in fact.  Just wasn’t sure how to respond. **

** Blaine Anderson: Just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you. **

** Kurt Hummel.  I appreciate it.  First time anyone had bought me flowers. **

** Blaine Anderson: Really? **

** Kurt Hummel: Really. **

** Blaine Anderson: Well everyone else is stupid then. **

** Kurt Hummel: How are classes? **

** Blaine Anderson: Okay.  Boring.  The same as always. **

** Kurt Hummel: I thought you liked all that money talk. **

** Blaine Anderson: I’m in it because it means a secure job one day.  I don’t want to end up in the same boat as my parents. **

** Kurt Hummel: What would you do though if you could do anything? **

** Blaine Anderson: …. not sure.  No one’s ever asked me that before. **

** Kurt Hummel: I’m asking. **

** Blaine Anderson: I don’t know.  Music maybe?  Teaching?   **

** Kurt Hummel: You like kids? **

** Blaine Anderson: Yeah.  I always wanted to babysit but my parents wouldn’t let me because “only girls do that” and “you don’t need the money”.  I love hanging out with little kids though.  They’re all so happy and hopeful and…. I am coming off as some kind of creepy paedophile? **

** Kurt Hummel: Not at all.  I think it’s sweet. **

** Blaine Anderson: Yeah.. well… I figure since I can’t make kids of my own it would be nice to have some around. **

** Kurt Hummel: Gay men can adopt or use surrogates. **

** Blaine Anderson: Both cost money, money will take time for me to save up.   **

** Kurt Hummel: So impatient. **

** Blaine Anderson: I assume you want to be on stage? **

** Kurt Hummel: Yes.  I love entertaining. **

** Blaine Anderson: Oooooo! **

** Kurt Hummel: Not THAT way. **

** Blaine Anderson: Joking.  I know.  You shone in Midsummer’s Night Dream.  I also creeped out the videos of the plays you were in last year.  You’re amazing.  Can’t pay attention to anyone else when you’re on stage. **

** Kurt Hummel: I do draw focus. **

** Blaine Anderson: You definitely do. **

Yes.  It was easy to talk to Blaine like this.  Safe for that matter too.  Kurt knew he couldn’t limit it to messaging forever though.  Eventually he’d have to take a step out of his safe bubble he had formed in Lima, though first he had to make sure that when he did step out, it was the real him emerging.

 

* * *

_** KittysKorner   
** There’s nothing to gossip about anymore. _

_** AuntieSnix   
** We could always get nasty and competitive with the Sirens again. _

_** Quintessential   
** You could.  But given you both are always hanging out in my dorm room anyhow it wouldn’t last long. _

_** FondueForMew   
** You have the biggest room Quinn. _

_** AuntieSnix   
** We should invite Blaine to our sleepovers. _

_** KittysKorner   
** Ew.  He has boy cooties. _

_** FondueForMew   
** All my vaccinations are up to date. _


	30. Chapter 30

"Legs farther apart! Come on! I know you can all stretch 'em wider given how you spend your nights!"

Blaine gritted his teeth - both for the sake of stopping himself from saying something he'd regret to Coach Washington and also because it already felt like his leg might tear off at the peak of his thigh. There was no point to this exercise except for her to torture them, and while the girls might be able to do the splits without consequence, Blaine always had to worry about that thing he had between his legs getting crushed while it was being pulled - something Coach Washington clearly had no empathy for.

Two more months of this, then summer. Competition season was over now and while the Spartans had come close each and every time, they hadn't beat out the Sirens at any events. Without Kurt though, they had definitely lost an edge, but without Kurt, Blaine had no reason to develop anything showier than he already had. There was no one to impress… well… aside from the judges, but Blaine wasn't as worried about them.

"Well I have an acupuncture session to get to, so I guess you cretins can go shower and I'll see you on Wednesday!" Coach Washington finally announced, looking down at her wrist even though there was no watch on it.

Blaine groaned and brought his legs back together, sitting for awhile to let the burn in them cool before going to the showers. Santana took this as invitation to come sit by him, immediately breaking into her favorite topic of conversation.

"So… spring break."

"Yeah. Spring break. No I'm not going to join you girls on your crazy jaunt to the coast. I feel like I'd probably be babysitting by trying to ensure your tops remained on. Moreover I don't have the cash for it."

Santana smirked, and for a moment Blaine was sure he had anticipated what she was going to say accurately. Then, of course, she had to correct him.

"Actually, I was going to say that Lima is kind of nice this time of year. If you're into small, hick towns that is."

Blaine's cheeks went rosy and he looked towards his lap. "He's pretty insistive that we're just friends Santana…."

"Great! Friends! Doesn't mean you both can't access the benefits part since, y'know, you already have."

A groan fell from Blaine's lips. "It's not like I don't want to Santana… it's just…"

"Yeah, yeah… he's suddenly taken a vow of chastity. How boring."

"Not even that… I just don't want to rush whatever it is he feels he needs to do… I like him. I'm willing to wait until he's ready to move along… I'm just hoping he still does when he finds what he's looking for."

There was a snort and Blaine glanced up to see Santana shaking her head, "I just don't see how he thinks he can find it working on engines in Lima of all places."

"You just tried to sell Lima to me as a spring vacation site."

"Right. Forget what I said then."

Blaine chuckled, getting up and getting himself into the locker room to shower and get changed. He would have been lying if he said he didn't think about Kurt pressing him up against the tiles of the shower and taking Blaine's cock into his mouth everytime he went in there. Just because of that memory, the showers in the change room had to be Blaine's favorite place on campus.

He grabbed a doughnut and a coffee on the way to his room, where he immediately dove into his computer chair and logged in, beaming brightly as he saw he had a message waiting from Kurt.

_**So I was knew this girl in high school who's made it big on Broadway and I saw she posted about needing extra's in a play she's in. Well I asked her about it and she set up an audition for me tomorrow! I'm so excited I might burst! I probably won't be able to send any messages after this because I'm going straight to the train station once I send this. Wish me luck! - Kurt** _

Blaine's smile faltered a little. On the one hand he was excited for Kurt to finally be given a chance to realize his talent on a Broadway stage, even if it was as a background character, on the other hand, Kurt going to New York and realizing his dream of the stage would put him even farther away from Blaine.

Not that Blaine had seen Kurt since he had left. Ohio or New York, it was all the same at this point. Kurt was becoming more of a fantasy than a reality, and he had to wonder how sane he was to obsess so much over a man that wasn't even around to appreciate it.

Staring at the screen for longer than necessary, Blaine rolled his lips in and out from between his front teeth as he tried to figure out how to respond to the message, or if he should at all. He could send a message of good luck, but would Kurt even receive it in time? Would he care if he got it?

Eventually he did type out a little message, wishing Kurt good luck, telling him to break a leg, and then asking Kurt to let him know how it went when he had a chance. He hoped it was enough.

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Kurt's in NYC! Auditioning for some play that troll in high school is playing in!_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Berry? Yeah. She's apparently hot shit now._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_I have seen all her plays._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_What? When?_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_My parents take me to New York all the time to see the shows. Says it gives me culture._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Huh. Well. How about that._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Cheese also has culture._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. Just a short(er) chapter tonight. I'm totally bagged. :P


	31. Chapter 31

The past twenty four hours had been an emotional thrill ride for Kurt, with more ups than downs and certainly a good loop-de-loo thrown in. He would have never expected Rachel to throw him a bone like getting an audition on a real Broadway stage, certainly not after he spent most of his high school life shunning her and making fun of her with the cheer girls. The only reason he had accepted her facebook friend request back then was because he knew if he didn't he would be nagged daily by the overly ambitious brunette.

He also, even back then, had to admit that she was talented. He just wouldn't have admitted it aloud.

"High school was high school Kurt. Plus I remember how you auditioned for the two little plays McKinley tried to put on and you were actually really good. I'll bet that if West Side Story had happened, you would have been the Tony to my Maria." Rachel had explained after Kurt had taken her out for a coffee before the audition to thank her profusely for giving him a shot.

Then of course there was the actual audition. Being in a lead role at SCU was easy because there was such a lack of talent that his own put him high above the rest. On Broadway though, he was just one of thousands of hopefuls. He hadn't even really had time to prepare anything.

But it turned out that it was all just a formality. With Rachel vouching for him and then proving to the director that he could hold a note, Kurt was told he was in. Just like that.

He owed that girl a lifetime of coffees.

"Oh god… I have to phone my dad…. and Quinn, and Santana and Blaine… and ohmygoshRachelthankyousomuch!" Kurt said, remembering to breath at the end lest he faint.

Rachel just chuckled and patted Kurt on the back. "I even know of a couple people that have rooms for rent out here. Not me though. I need my peace and serenity. I have a dedicated period of seclusion each day to maintain my focus."

Kurt got the information for those rooms from Rachel and got on the next train back to Ohio. He needed to pack his things and get back by the end of the week when rehearsals started.

When the life he really wanted started.

His dad and Carole were overjoyed, if not sad to find out that he was going just as abruptly as he had come. They helped him pack up the trunk he had only just emptied while Kurt made choices about how much he could actually bring. Calls were made to the people offering rooms, and his Navigator was posted on the local advertising website so he could finance his move and living needs until he got his first paycheck. It would no doubt be meager as a backup actor, but it was a start.

Calls were made to Quinn and Santana, who conveniently were having a sleepover with Brittany and Kitty. The gaggle of girls on the other end of the line barely stopped squealing in excitement when he announced his big news, and he had to promise to get them all tickets for one of the showings.

Then there was Blaine.

Kurt didn't know why he was nervous about telling Blaine his news, he just knew he was. Regardless, he picked up the phone and held his breath as the call was put through.

"Hey."

"IgotthepartBlaine!Igotit!"

Real smooth Hummel, he thought to himself. He hadn't intended to rush his words out like that, and Blaine probably thought he was verifiably crazy now.

"Oh… wow…. congratulations."

It wasn't his parents joy, or the girls giddy excitement. Blaine was a lot more subdued, and almost sounded withdrawn when presented with the news.

"Thanks. Is… everything okay?"

"It's been awhile since I've actually heard your voice. We talk all the time online… but your voice… it reminds me you're real."

Kurt's brows peaked, not for Blaine to see. "Yeah…."

"Sorry. Just had a long day. Tell me about New York."

So Kurt did. He told Blaine about the urgent way everyone moved there, as if they all had a purpose. No one just stopped (unless of course they were obvious tourists). The buildings were beautiful, as was the rare green spaces. Times square was overwhelming. There was every type of food imaginable there, and all reasonably priced.

And he had been on a Broadway stage. One that he would continue to be on night after night until the show had run its course or he got a bigger part in something else.

A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that he was being rude, blathering on as he did for over an hour about how wonderful it all was, how excited he was, and how it was going to change everything. Blaine could have set down the phone and walked away and Kurt probably wouldn't even had noticed given how quickly he was talking. Talking made it so much more real.

"If I get you a ticket… would you come see it?"

"Of course I would." Blaine responded without hesitation, proving to Kurt he was still awake and there, much to Kurt's relief.

"You'd have to get your own train ticket."

"I'd make it happen."

"Why didn't I meet you earlier?"

There was a chuckle on the other end, the first real hint of happiness he had gotten from Blaine since he had called. "How much earlier? A day? A week? A month?"

"Years earlier. Why weren't you in my life when I was younger… before I made all the stupid mistakes I made."

"I doubt my being in your life any earlier would have changed things Kurt… I mean… you're ready to figure things out when you're ready to figure them out."

"Words from the great philosopher Blaine Anderson?"

Another priceless chuckle. "I guess."

"You should be doing something you love too."

There was a pause, then, "We life in a time and place where a lot of attention is paid to following your dreams and passions… but there's something to be said for having a stable, well-paying job with benefits Kurt… I'd rather do a job I hate knowing that I can provide for the family I want than have a job I love but have to give up even having a family one day."

"It means that much to you…"

"Yeah. It really does."

"You're a rare one Blaine Anderson."

"The same could be said of you Kurt Hummel."

"I mean it. You might not think you changed things… -"

"I really don't see how hooking up a couple times caused you to veer your life in a radical new path… no."

"You were just the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back Blaine… I was burning out, I was depressed, I didn't like myself, I didn't like what I was doing… and… with you… I actually hurt when I thought you had deceived me with the whole stunt team thing… then you showed me just as easily that you cared. You didn't care about the stupid cheer thing like everyone else did…. you were the only one who was concerned about me when I got hurt and when I came back… it's been a long time since anyone has seen me as anything but a cheerleader…. and I didn't even know what I was aside from it."

"I don't suppose that means I can take you out on a date now?"

Kurt smiled, twirling the cord of the old phone he was using as he considered it. Had he come far enough yet?

"I'll send you a ticket for the show."

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_You think I could sell Kurt's man panties on e-Bay now that's he's a big shot?_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Why do you even have….._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I have a few pairs too._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Explain._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_He has the best underwear. It's so comfy and keeps everything packed in nicely._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I know right?! I stole a few pairs the last time I was in there and he was under the blanket._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Why not just buy your own?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Nah. That would be weird._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Totally._


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend sabbypadewan/stormwitha6letter name threatened me with venom and violence if I didn't dedicate a chapter to her. Since she's German AND Lebanese, and therefore terrifying as hell, this one is for her.

Time seemed to slow after Blaine got that call from Kurt. There wasn't as many cheer practices to fill up his week, and the social events seemed to dwindle after spring break (which Blaine had unceremoniously spent on campus since his parents had once again found contract work during that time). There didn't even seem to be as much schoolwork to do in this semester compared to the last.

Blaine was bored.

Kurt still messaged him, but it wasn't as frequent. His friend-he-wished-was-more was busy with rehearsals, new friends, and a part time job he had gotten. When he did talk to Blaine, a lot of it was all about his friend Rachel or his roommate Elliott, who Blaine was quickly growing to despise if only out of jealousy for getting to spend time with Kurt. He wanted to be the one to be there. He wanted to see Kurt's too rare grins, the twinkle in his eyes when he found humorous, and the way Kurt tipped his hips to the side when he wanted people to notice him as he walked.

The girls had all gravitated towards one another, as if their whole history and years of bitterness had evaporated over the course of the year. He supposed, for their sakes, that it was healthy, but it also left him alone more and more. Santana didn't even bother barging into his room anymore, though he was still regularly threatened with violence if he didn't keep his dorm clean - not that she'd notice if it was.

His grades, at least, were impeccable since he had nothing better to do most of the time other than study. He might not have wanted to go into business, and the courses might be as boring as watching grass grow, but he at least felt productive in that way. He was taking care of things in order to secure a future for himself and the silhouettes of a family he one day imagined.

Most of the time, when the quiet became too much, he would look up at the bulletin board over his desk. There, pinned down with a red tack, was a ticket Kurt had sent for the show he was in. Section A, Row 5, seat 29. He had it memorized. Also pinned to the board was a sock Kurt had left behind that first night they had been intimate. Blaine had meant to get it back to Kurt, but the time never seemed to happen, and now it would just seem weird to give Kurt back one lone sock. Thus, it became a reminder that Kurt was real, and had been in his room.

Beside the ticket was a picture of the Spartans for that year, and under that, one of the Sirens that Quinn had bestowed to him. Kurt was front and center in it, looking both gorgeous and threatening with steely blue dominating his eyes at the moment the picture had been taken.

Finals couldn't have come soon enough.

As expected, his parents blew him off once again at the end of the semester, apparently doing a run to Atlanta where they had gotten a contract for work in their specialty field - a narrow niche that even Blaine hadn't figured out. Regardless, Blaine had plans. All his piano tutoring money had gone to his New York fund and he had enough for a round trip train ticket and a few days in a moderately priced hotel. Kurt had been messaged and confirmed that he would be waiting for Blaine at the station.

Now was the time for Blaine to figure out if what he felt for Kurt was real, or was the fantasy of a man obsessed.

"Blaine!"

He had barely stepped foot off the train when Kurt had called him, and hearing Kurt's voice relieved tension in his muscles he hadn't even been aware he was carrying. Quickly he was wrapped up in arms and returned the hug without thinking before pulling back and looking at the man in front of him.

New York had been kind to Kurt. He had filled out a little more - no longer so gaunt in the cheeks. The dark circles under his eyes had all but disappeared, and his cheeks were rosy where they had usually been pale. Blaine got both the twinkle in Kurt's eyes that he had been thinking about, and the toothless grin.

Whatever doubts he had left with the train behind him, because all he could do then was think about kissing those perfectly pink lips.

"Come on!"

"I… have a hotel reservation at -"

"Cancel it. You're staying with me."

"But… your roommate…"

"Is away for some kind of hipster yoga retreat."

The call to cancel was made in moments, and despite having to pay a small cancellation fee, Blaine felt so much more empowered to know he wouldn't have to worry quite as much about his spending as he would have at a hotel.

They took a taxi to Kurt's apartment, and Blaine watched Kurt as Kurt pointed out different places he had gone, or different landmarks of note. He should have been paying attention to the words that beautiful voice was uttering, but all he could focus on was the soft, peachy skin, the equally soft looking chestnut hair, the dimples that formed aside Kurt's lips whenever he got excited about something he was talking about, and the way the sea seemed to spin around Kurt's pupils.

"Blaine… Blaine? Mmph!"

He had been staring, and Kurt had caught him. In panic, he did the only thing he could think of to do, the same thing he had hoping to do for months - he kissed Kurt.

Initially there was a bit of panic and shock on Kurt's side of things, but much to Blaine's relief the other man melted against him, pressing his lips back gently and chastely and bringing a hand up to Blaine's cheek as they both ignored the driver peeking in the rear view mirror.

"Well…. huh." Kurt muttered softly, looking completely dazed as they finally pulled back for air.

"Sorry… I just… I've wanted to do that for…"

"Months. Yeah… me too…"

Blaine beamed, and then let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh… thank god… I wasn't even thinking and it just hit me that if you didn't want that… then the rest of this trip would be insanely awkward."

"Blaine?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad you're here."

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_You get any gossip yet Santana?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_About Blaine and Kurt? Nada._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_God.. the anticipation is killing me._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_They're probably busy. New York is renowned for its shopping, museums, and cultural sites._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Yeah. "Busy". Let's hope it's that._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_No kidding. I don't want to have to go out there and lock them in a room together._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_I should probably get interested in someone…. but agonizing over their relationship is just somehow more fun._


	33. Chapter 33

It was hard to hold back. The past couple months Kurt had kept himself busy on purpose to avoid being lonely and thinking about what could have been or still could be. Now here was Blaine, right beside him, and telling Kurt he felt the same way Kurt did. He wanted to launch himself at Blaine, cover him with his body and his mouth and tell him to take him right then and there, cabbie checking them out in the rear view mirror or not.

Instead Kurt just forced himself to make conversation after they had kissed and tried to mentally will away the bulge in his pants so he could get through the next little while without becoming a total bumbling mess. He had been doing so well since coming to New York, able to fend off would be suitors in favor of waiting to see if the connection he had felt with Blaine before would still be there when they were reunited.

It was.

So he babbled about the most ridiculous of things to try and keep himself occupied and avoid how Blaine kept staring at his lips like they were dinner.

"This is the way I walk to work."  
"That pizza place makes gluten free dough but it's so not worth it."  
"I stubbed my toe on that curb a couple weeks ago."

To Blaine's credit he seemed to be listening to Kurt, or at the very least not laughing at his randomness. A hand had been set on Kurt's thigh with a thumb that rubbed itself back and forth over the fabric of Kurt's pants. It was distracting, and all too close to Kurt's crotch. It was idiotic how much that gave him a flush up his ears and down his cheeks. One would think he was some kind of bashful virgin instead of the bed post notching playboy he was, or at least, had been.

It took far too long for the cabbie to reach Kurt's apartment, and he made sure to give the man a generous tip since he had been good about keeping quiet through his creepy leering. Blaine had packed light, and there was only the one bag he kept held over his shoulder. Kurt wished he had brought more, so he had something to busy his hands with or at least hold over his groin to hide the arousal he was sure anyone would be able to see. Instead he kept a foot ahead of Blaine as he led him into the building and up the stairs. That way, he at least wouldn't have to be embarrassed in front of Blaine.

The apartment was cozy, and Blaine's scan as he entered through the front door was about as much of a tour as he'd need since everything was visible from that vantage point.

"Where do you usually sleep?"

"Oh..." Kurt opened the door to the side of the the petite kitchenette, revealing the crawl space sized room he called his own with barely space for a single bed. "Rent in New York is insane for a bachelor suite..."

Blaine looked at the bed and Kurt rotated his shoulders back and looked down at the ground. It was almost as embarrassing as allowing Blaine to see the erection that was finally drooping down now; his little Harry Potter like existence in what used to be a pantry. The dorms had been luxury compared this.

"I can stay in a hotel Kurt... I did put away some money..."

"That you should save for taking me out instead. It's okay. Elliott knows and is expecting you to borrow his bed."

Blaine smiled weakly and nodded, setting his bag down on huge couch that was only a hair's breath from the doorway. "And what's on the agenda for tonight?"

Kurt shrugged. It was Monday night; dark night on Broadway. The only night they'd have free to spend together during Blaine's time in New York. "We could stay in or do the tourist thing. You know, even though I've been here for two months I've barely seen any of the sights."

"Yeah… yeah…. I mean… I came here once when I was real little and got dragged around by my parents… would be a lot different now that I have grown up eyes."

"Or…." Kurt sucked in a breath, now considering how he had never really noticed how salmon colored Blaine's lips were, or how there was always a light shadow over his upper lip where his would-be mustache tried to grow in. "... ah…."

"Lose your train of thought?" Blaine said with a hush, eyes snapping onto Kurt's. It couldn't be fair that Blaine's eyes were already darker than Kurt's, making it so much harder to judge how much desire he was feeling compared to what Blaine was no doubt seeing clearly in Kurt's eyes.

"... Yeah."

Who hit who with their chests was a mystery in the rush that followed as both men flung themselves at the other, both stumbling back in Blaine's direction as the force put them off balance until they managed to fall gracelessly into the worn out couch that Kurt despised. It was hardly the plan, not that there was one to begin with, but Kurt had been sure he would have been able to maintain his cool for at least a day before it came to this. Lips being drawn on with the tips of tongues before becoming tangled up with one another and grazing over teeth and along gums. Kurt had grabbed a fistful of hair that was rapidly losing its gel as he coiled his fingers through it while the other hand wound itself around Blaine's hip. Blaine had mirrored what Kurt's hands were doing, just on the opposite side, and rocked his hips up against Kurt's.

It was so easy to fall into this, but more than that, it was so plainly right.

Time was lost this way as they worked into a natural rhythm with one another, gentle brushing of their bodies back and forth as they familiarized themselves with the mouth of the other. Kissing had never been like this for Kurt before. Sure, it had been passionate and eager, and with a good bit of alcohol in him he could get downright thirsty for it. This though had all those qualities, but it was also intimate in a way he'd never experienced before and couldn't quite place.

It only took occasional pauses in their lip worship to peel off their clothing, leaving a mess over the carpet that was probably more of an improvement to the shag than Kurt would ever admit to Elliott. Then they resumed sliding against one another, completely naked, and with the lights on Kurt could see just how much they contrasted. Blaine was tawny and Kurt was cream. Blaine had all his muscles built into his thighs while Kurt's were on his abdomen. Both the men had hair on their bodies, but Kurt's was so fair it could pass as non existent while Blaine had a rugged, mountain man quality to him. Even their cocks were different. Blaine had an extra line of skin below the head of his cock where his foreskin drew up when he was flaccid while Kurt was the victim of infant circumcision. Blaine's cock was slightly longer but Kurt had girth to make up for that, and damn did he want to use it on the man under him.

"We… oh… condoms?" Blaine stuttered, having to pull his plushed lips back in order to utter those words. Kurt nodded and slipped backwards, standing off of Blaine and quickly fishing under his bed for one of his storage bins as he mentally cursed himself for not planning for this eventuality and having it all out and at the ready.

"I could look at your naked ass all day…"

Kurt chuckled, looking back over his shoulder at Blaine and purposely wiggled his bent over buttoxs which was on display. "I'd really like you to do more than just look at it."

"Never figured you for a bottom… I mean… I know you probably switch like every other guy I know but you seem like…. well you seemed like..-"

"I usually top Blaine." Kurt quickly noted, grabbing the necessary items and stepping back to Blaine where he straddled himself back over his body. "But fuck if you don't know how to make me want to lose control. It's just… I don't know… I guess it's trust that you'll take care of me if I let go like that. I don't need to watch out for myself."

Blaine flashed Kurt a grin before bowing his head down into the crook of Kurt's neck and nibbling along his collarbone, stopping only to reply. "Like I said… I could look at you all day… watch over you… I may sound like a romantic sap, but there's nothing I'd like to do more."

With a shuddering sigh, Kurt tipped his head back.

I know, he told himself, and I want you to.

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_I bet $20 that Blaine comes back hobbling._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Oh please. That's hardly anything to bet on. May as well bet on the sky being blue._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Actually the sky has no distinct color. Our eyes pick up the blue that is scattered from particle to particle._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_So..... Double or nothing then?_


	34. Chapter 34

Blaine was never so exhausted and yet simultaneously grateful for the short recovery time that came with youth. Kurt's apartment may have been small, but there wasn't a place in it that they hadn't marked now with their sweat and much more. Even the shower, a place meant for cleaning, was filthy by the time they were through with it.

It was easily the best twenty four hours of his life.

Now he laid, snuggled in close aside a napping Kurt, on Kurt's child sized bed in the closet. It would have been weird to go into some other guy's bed to do this, and it meant he had an excuse to hold Kurt closely as he slept. Every bit of Kurt that was exposed had been committed to memory by Blaine's eyes. Each freckle, each dip in the skin, even the veins that showed through his pale skin had been mapped. He had told Kurt he would nap with him, and while he probably should have since they would both be up late tonight, Blaine much preferred what he had been spending the last couple hours doing. It certainly made a lot more sense to him than wasting his mind on sleep.

Tonight he would see Kurt in action in the play. Several times over Kurt had warned him his part was small and arbitrary, but Blaine also knew that he would be in the background of most of the scenes, so Blaine would have something beautiful to look at for the majority of the evening. Between "romantic interludes", Kurt had tailored Blaine's suit, deciding to improve upon what he called "a classic if dated design".

Blaine never ceased to be amazed by Kurt's talents.

"Mmmm….? Blaine?"

He had been looking at Kurt's hair, trying to count out each one when Kurt mumbled to indicate his rising consciousness. Blaine looked down and smiled at the blue eyes that were turned up at his, quickly pressing a kiss to Kurt's forehead before returning the greeting. "Hey."

"Hey yourself…." Kurt grunted as he propped himself up on his side and looked at Blaine. "... how long have you been awake for?"

"Not long." Blaine lied, reaching over to brush a stray hair away from Kurt's face which was threatening to fall into his eye, "You can sleep for awhile longer if you want. You said you don't have to be at the theater for a couple more hours anyhow."

Kurt shook his head, sitting up and making a small grimace which Blaine took of indication that, yes, Kurt could still feel him. In his defense though, Kurt had begged him to make him feel it for days during the heat of the moment and Blaine was always one to try and please. "I want to take you out to dinner before we go. Can't hide away in here the whole time you visit. It would be a waste of New York and the travel fare."

Blaine shook his head. "No. It has already more than surpassed any and all expectations I could ever have of it."

He got a playful jab in the bicep for his words from Kurt, who crept down the length of the bed and then stood up, as there was no room on either side of the bed to get out that way. "God, you're such a sap."

Blaine brushed over his arm, watching Kurt in all his gorgeous, naked glory, and none too ashamed about how much he was staring. "I like romance."

"I do too."

There was a silent moment as they looked at one another, gold locked onto blue, understanding completely. Kurt's walls were falling, and had fallen, so rapidly. It would be a difficult feat to build them back up now.

"I'm buying dinner."

"I thought I said I was."

"But you saved me the cost of a hotel."

"But you paid train fare to get out here."

"God…" Blaine chuckled as he shuffled down the bed to follow after Kurt who was heading into the sex scented bathroom. "Why can't you just let me treat you?"

Kurt sighed, hand reaching into the shower to check the temperature. "Is this how it always is between two guys? Always arguing who pays?"

Blaine shook his head, "No… not always… and in all fairness, It happens in a lot of relationships nowadays anyhow… save for the ones where people are happy to be "traditional"... whatever that is."

"I guess I'm going to figure that out huh?"

Blaine followed Kurt into the shower, cramping their bodies together as they worked to grab shampoo and soap and get themselves clean. "You really haven't ever been a relationship huh?"

Kurt shook his head, tipped back into the spray of the shower to rinse it out. "No…"

"I've been in a couple… neither were particularly great… but it gave me food for thought."

"Like what?"

Blaine shrugged, doing a little shuffle dance in a circle with Kurt so he could get a turn under the showerhead. "Like I don't want to be in a relationship where one person has more power than the other. I want to be an equal. I want someone who wants to be wanted and doesn't see it as an annoyance…. I want to be with someone who has the same long term ideas as me too… I'm a commitment kind of guy. I want a future with one person and them alone."

Kurt was silent, and Blaine immediately thought through what he had just revealed. Was it too much? Would it scare Kurt off? God…. what if those things weren't what Kurt wanted at all?

"Are we… are we in a relationship Blaine?"

Blaine blinked and looked back to Kurt, having been soaping up his lower half. "I.. what?"

_Real smooth Blaine._

"I mean… I don't know… Am I just something casual or…"

Blaine dropped the soap and quickly grabbed Kurt's randomly gesturing hands to hold them still. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes… I mean…"

Blaine knelt down - easily one of the more awkward positions he had put himself in over the past day given how cramped the shower was, and looked up at Kurt while keeping his hands trapped inside of his own. "Kurt, would you be my boyfriend?"

That got him a laugh and a tug up by the hands. "Yeah. God… get up unless you plan to make my dick more chapped than it already is."

Blaine laughed in turn and stood back up, wrapping his arms around Kurt who froze for a split second and then hugged him back. "Thank you… thank you…. we'll make it work. I promise."

"Does this mean I can change my facebook status?"

Blaine giggled into Kurt's shoulder. "Yeah. I think so."

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_OMG!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_What?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Facebook! Look at it now!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_What? All the candy crush requests from you? Honestly. You have an addiction._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_No! Not that!_

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Kurt and Blaine being in a relationship? Yeah. Lord Tubbington already called that one._


	35. Chapter 35

Sleep had never come so easily, or felt so safe.

Before Blaine had come to New York, Kurt still struggled to sleep. The city was so loud and alive, even at night, and it had been quite an adjustment from the dull tranquility of Ohio. Elliott snored (even though he insisted he didn't), and working nights on the show had totally screwed up the schedule Kurt had been keeping for years, especially since late-night cast dinners and drinks had become the norm. He had no need to get home at a certain time, and certainly no one to go home to, so Kurt had been staying up at ungodly hours in the city, sometimes just walking around until dawn.

Blaine being there changed it all though.

On Tuesday, Kurt had performed with Blaine in the audience, and somewhere between curtain call and Kurt getting out of the change room, Blaine had purchased a bouquet of roses for him which made Kurt's heart try to jump out of his chest. Everyone wanted to meet his beau, so Blaine was dragged along to dinner and, to his credit, fielded a variety of questions about himself, Kurt, and their new relationship. Chief among those inquiries was how was were they going to make a long distance relationship work.

"We'll need to talk about it." was the go to answer given by both of them.

Talking didn't happen though, at least not for the first few nights where they were happy to just enjoy one another in every imaginable way. Sex aside, there were shared showers, late brunches, walks and tours, and, of course, actually sleeping together.

They alternated who spooned who at the beginning of each night, even though they inevitably woke up with the blanket kicked down and each trying to cling to separate sides of the tiny bed. It was summer in New York after all. It was hot, humid, and the apartment had no air conditioning. Going out was as much about tourism as it was about finding a place with a livable temperature.

Kurt rushed through his nightly clean-up now after the shows, wanting to get back to Blaine as soon as he could and forgoing the invitations for dinner. If this was what love was like, he didn't know how people managed to work apart or even travel away from one another. The tug his heart felt to be with Blaine was unbearable when he was acting, and that only took a few hours of his time.

But the talk had to come, and with the end of Blaine's visit looming, Kurt was dreading it. So much so that instead of heading straight home after his second Friday night show that he detoured and picked up some ice cream for them to share. Ice cream made everything better.

Once Kurt returned to the apartment, he found himself struggling with carrying his grocery bags (ice cream alone was a good idea in theory, but so was chocolate, popcorn, licorice, and diet coke) and getting the key out for the lock.

"Let me help you with that."

Kurt startled and spun in place, his tight expression loosing dramatically when he saw who it was. "Dad!"

Burt Hummel chuckled and embraced his son outside of the door. "Missed you. Had a voucher that was about to expire and thought - what the hell!"

Kurt laughed and let his dad take the key to open the door, leading the way up to his suite when he was gobsmacked in the head by the realization that his dad was about to meet his boyfriend for the first time… a boyfriend he had failed to call and let his dad know about.

"Ah… so dad… there's this thing I've been meaning to tell you…"

"Mmm… You can tell me anything son. But how about we crack open that ice cream you have first? This city is sweltering!"

"Yeah.. but…."

Burt opened the door to the suite before Kurt could get the words out and snapped it shut just as quickly, face bursting red. "Maybe you should tell me now. I imagine it has something to do with the naked boy I just saw in there."

Kurt groaned and tipped his head forward as his cheeks went red. Why the hell hadn't he snatched the key back? "Yeah… so… dad… my…. my…."

"Please tell me it's a boyfriend and not one of those dial-a-hooker's I saw on the news."

Kurt nodded frantically, "Yes! Yes! He's mine. I mean…. he's my boyfriend. Blaine!"

"Okay… I guess… I guess I need to give you a call before impromptu visits in the future…." Burt sighed, shaking his head. "Think I gave him a good scare though. He jumped behind the couch when he saw me."

Kurt let out a weak giggle, playing the scene in his head and then rapping his knuckles against the door. "You dressed Blaine?"

"Yeah." was the muffled, cheerless reply from within.

The door was slowly reopened, this time with Kurt turning the knob and taking the lead. Blaine was sitting on the couch, dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that Kurt recognized from being thrown to the floor earlier in the day during a fit of passion. Hands settled in his lap and head trying to retreat between his shoulders, Blaine was the picture of adorable bashfulness.

"So… dad… Blaine… Blaine… my dad…." Kurt gestured between the both of them, offering Blaine a little grin which only seemed to make his boyfriend's face redder.

Burt, however, was not deterred. He reached over and grabbed Blaine's hand when it was offered and gave it a firm shake. "Sorry to interrupt what was clearly going to be a fun night."

By this point Kurt and Blaine both were so red they were turning purple, while Burt seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the fact that he held the power at the moment and using it to his advantage. "So, what are your intentions towards my son Blaine?"

"I - er - I -..." Blaine's eyes got round and snapped onto Kurt in a panic. Kurt knew his dad well enough to know when the man was making a joke, but Blaine certainly didn't, and the pointed question looked like it was going to make him bolt out of the apartment then and there.

"Blaine… he's just -" Kurt began, intending to settle Blaine and out his dad's mischievousness in the process. However, Blaine interrupted, eyes flitting back to Burt's.

"My intentions are to woo him to the point where he'll marry me one day…. ah… with your blessing of course… sir."

The floor could have fell out from under Kurt and he wouldn't have known the difference. Now it was his turn for his eyes to pop out, and his dad's in turn.

"Sir? Blessing? Marry?... Woo?!" Burt looked back and forth between the pair and then let his gaze linger on Kurt. "Where the heck did you find this one?"

"Ohio… sir." Blaine offered, now standing as tall as he could manage with his chest puffed out.

Burt again looked back to Blaine for a moment, regarding the young man, and then again to Kurt, "Ohio. You talk about escaping to New York since you were young to find "your people" and it turns out that you get a guy from Ohio… who uses the word 'woo'."

Remembering to breath, and that he was the tape binding his dad and Blaine together in this situation, Kurt took in a breath and then exhaled as he spoke. "How about we just order some dinner and we can all talk."

"Certainly." Was Blaine's response, so much more tense than Kurt was now used to.

"Pizza." Was his dad's response, a roll of the eyes accompanying.

* * *

_**FinnTastic  
** Dudes! My dad went to New York to surprise Kurt… and guess what! There was totally a naked guy in Kurt's apartment!_

_**AuntieSnix  
** Only one?_

_**Quintessential  
** Must be Blaine._

_**FinnTastic  
** Who's Blaine?_

_**KittysKorner  
** Do you even go online Finn?_

_**FinnTastic  
** Oh… the guy it said Kurt's in a relationship with? I thought that was a joke._

_**AuntieSnix  
** Why would you think it was a joke?_

_**FinnTastic  
** Because the last time I saw Kurt he said he'd get a boyfriend when hell froze over._

_**Quintessential  
** Well then, grab your ice skates. Satan's playing hockey._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. My plans this summer included lots of writing. I did not plan for my basement flooding leading to the growth of mould in the walls and under the flooring, leading to numerous hours spent ripping apart my basement, dealing with insurance, and otherwise being in homeowner agony. Honestly. It's like the fates are conspiring against me.


	36. Chapter 36

Blaine had played "meet the parents" before with both of his exes. In the first instance though, the parents were largely disinterested in the activities of their son and his boyfriend, preferring to spend time with their yacht club colleagues and completely investing themselves in the gossip circuit of their own friends. Blaine had guessed he was accepted by those parents, in theory, but he didn't have to do anything to earn that acceptance.

With his second boyfriend, he had met the mom as the dad was uninvolved and not in his boyfriend's life. The mom outright denied that Blaine was her son's boyfriend, insisting that the boy was straight and just confused. In the end, that relationship had ended because Blaine's boyfriend wanted to try out a straight relationship just to see if there was something to what his mother said. Blaine had been upset, but in his heart he could understand. All his life he had sought to earn his parents acceptance, and he could see why his ex-boyfriend would want to try something to earn his mother's love.

Now there was Burt, Kurt's dad he recognized from the picture Kurt kept in his dorm room. Burt, whose first impression of Blaine had been him laying along the couch in the nude with a rose bitten between his teeth.

Blaine was pretty sure he had screwed up things forever with that, especially when Burt gave him a handshake and damn near squeezed the blood right out of his hand with his grip. Then, of course, Blaine had to go and ramble. He always got himself into trouble when he rambled.

He was positive he had screwed everything up. Not only did Burt look at him funny, but all through dinner Kurt did as well. Why did he say the M-word? What the hell was he thinking?

Oh right. He wasn't.

Dinner was... Awkward. Blaine knew he was the one who set the stage for that, but instead of making things better, he seemed to keep making things worse.

"Kurt and I met at SCU." He told Burt.

"Uh huh, doing what?"

"Cheerleading."

"So you're a cheerleader too?"

Blaine nodded, "For now. It pays my way to get a degree."

"So you're doing something you don't like?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's dumb. Ever hear of student loans kid?"

"Dad!" Kurt hissed, sitting between them both as they ate their pizza. Well, Kurt and Burt ate pizza, Blaine nervously nibbled on the crust of a piece as he tried to keep his stomach from jumping through his mouth.

Blaine flushed right up, and wondered why his face even bothered to stop being red with Burt in the room since it seemed to keep reverting to rose coloring. "No... It's okay. I wouldn't qualify for loans. They take your parents income into account, but do it based on historical tax data… anyhow.. my parents made a lot of money until my last year of high school when they lost it all…."

"Huh. Sorry to hear that kid…." Blaine didn't miss how Burt side-eyed Kurt when he spoke, drawing a look of pure irritation out of Kurt in return.

"Blaine had a trust fund but used it to get his parents out of the hole." Kurt noted, making Blaine's blush stay on his face. He wasn't used to being spoken up, especially not outside of cheer. His parents always made sure both him and Cooper knew how disappointed they were in them both growing up, and instead of things turning around when they had been humbled by the loss of their empire, all that had happened instead was them not saying anything good or bad.

"Really?" Burt looked back over to Blaine with that. "Kids shouldn't have to take care of their parents. Supposed to work the other way around."

Blaine just nodded, staring intently at the piece of pepperoni on his slice of pizza, wondering what the actual good meat content of it was, and wondering if he really wanted to know for that matter. Anything to keep him from worrying about what Kurt's dad was thinking about him.

"He's a good guy dad…." Kurt huffed in Blaine's defense, swiping another piece of pizza out of the box. "... you don't need to do the whole interrogation thing."

"And why not? This is the first time I've gotten the chance to! Been lookin' forward to this for years now!"

"Oh my god dad… that's hardly a reason to…. ugh…."

"Sorry." Blaine offered, though was hardly sure of what he was apologizing for.

"See! He's guilty about something Kurt!"

"Yeah! He's guilty of being embarrassed by my dad walking in on him naked when showing up unannounced!"

Blaine wasn't sure if Kurt was trying to defend him again because the all-too-recent memory flooded his brain again and sent him into blushing overdrive.

"Well he should be! Can't just strut around naked! What if there was a fire alarm! What if burglars showed up!"

"Or worse, my dad…."

"What about when you've got kids of your own! You think walking in on your son's boyfriend is bad? Imagine if you walked in on me doing the same damned thing."

At that, Kurt stabbed his fingers into his ears and started going "La la la la!" to drown out his dad who was still going on about hypothetical situations. Blaine, meanwhile, just sunk further and further into the couch, hoping maybe it could swallow him up and save him from this scene.

"Your boyfriend is very quiet when he'd not declaring his lifelong love for you son."

Kurt grumbled incomprehensibly and removed the fingers from his ears, signifying he could still hear his dad despite the gesture of tuning him out. "He's embarrassed and shy."

"I don't think he's shy. I think he's worried about saying too much, and showing too much for that matter, and now he's thinking he's screwed everything up royally."

That made Kurt quiet, not a thing to say about what was obviously the truth. Blaine just kept up staring at his wilting pizza slice, while Kurt shuffled in beside him and turned his head towards Blaine's ear.

"Nothing's screwed up." Was whispered by Kurt into Blaine's ear, a hand slipping in around Blaine's waist and squeezing him gently. "Now talk with my dad so he doesn't think you're a total wuss."

It got a chuckle out of Blaine he didn't even know he had in him, probably pushed out with the relief granted by Kurt's words. Turning his head away from the pizza slice and towards Burt, Blaine forced the redness down his face and back into his chest, hiding it away so he could show his boyfriend that he could be brave.

"I meant what I said Mr. Hummel. I'm a committer, and I think your son is worth all the embarrassment in the world."

Burt's nose twitched, and his lips pursed as he looked down at Blaine before finally responding.

"Good."

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Why haven't we heard any gossip about New York and the boys yet?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Good question. Blaine's not even responding to my texts._

**_FinnTastic_ **   
_Burt says they're "having a good time"._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_That is hardly gossip worthy._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_No kidding. Get us something good or get out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the delay. I was getting my yearly examinations and tests done at the closest big hospital which takes me away from my computer and exhausts me. I have an autoimmune disease and a rare subtype of it so I'm a focus of a few studies. That may sound cool in theory, but all it means is that I end up giving vampire volumes of my blood over and get poked at while medical personnel say things like "That's interesting" without elaborating any further on what exactly is interesting. I'm going camping for the next while too, so while I may post, it will be from my tablet, which means tumblr won't let you know that I updated. (If you're a tumblr follower anyhow). Anyhow, thanks for sticking with me. I promise, the end is in sight.


	37. Chapter 37

Kurt traced the backs of his fingers down Blaine's arm and then dragged his finger pads back up the length as Blaine slept bundled in beside him, almost childlike in the way he huddled up to Kurt's warm body. Outside of the door, Kurt could hear his dad snoring on the couch, accenting Blaine's own little wheezy breaths which were only broken up by the occasional nonsensical murmur brought on by an equally nonsensical dream. Kurt liked this time of day, when he would wake before Blaine and could just watch him sleep like he had all those months ago. The difference was that now Kurt wasn't just waking up to something that felt like a one night stand. He was waking up to something that meant so much more. It was commitment, romance, a future together, a promise of something so much more.

"Mmmm... keep doin' that..." Blaine muttered as Kurt slipped his fingers up again, prompting him to tip his head down to press a kiss to Blaine's cheek.

"Good morning."

"Your dad snores."

"You snore."

Blaine snorted contemptuously at that, prying his eyes apart slowly as they adjusted to the low light and focused on Kurt's face. "I do not. My nanny told me I slept like an angel growing up."

Kurt chuckled softly, not wanting to wake his dad and spoke in whispers, "You had a nanny... of course you had a nanny. Well, I hate to tell you this, but your nanny lied."

"Juanita would never lie." Blaine huffed in half-awake protest, drawing his arms up and around Kurt and pulling him in against his furnace like body. "Now snuggle."

Trapped like that just led to Kurt chuckling and burrowing in against the heater that Blaine was. "You do snore. Why do I have so many snoring men in my life?"

"Don't snore..." Blaine grumbled. "... who else snores?"

"Dad... obviously." Kurt murmured, setting his head down on Blaine's chest and moving his fingers to weave through Blaine's chest hair. "My step-brother Finn. Elliott. As much as I've always complained about it too, I do find it comforting to fall asleep to."

"Why?"

"It's familiar... it's... safe." Kurt said softly, revelling in how Blaine's chest hair would spring back into place when he pulled it upwards. "Do I snore?"

Kurt felt the top of his head being kissed before a response was given. "If I ever fall asleep after you... or wake up before you for that matter, I'll let you know."

"You sleep like a log."

"You don't sleep enough."

Kurt pointedly ignored the accusation. His sleeping habits had gotten much better since he had left SCU, but he knew they were far from perfect. Years of abuse to his body couldn't just be undone in a few months though. "Come on. Let's get up and shower before my dad hogs it."

"Your dad doesn't strike me as a shower hog."

"My dad has back hair which he meticulously shampoos and conditions since he lost all the hair on his head. I think he figures he might make enough one day to get the hair on his back transplanted to his head."

That got a laugh out of Blaine who sat up along with Kurt, making a start to their day by creeping out of the tiny room, having a shared shower, and making coffee; the smell of which awoke Kurt's dad.

The three of them took the subway to Central Park once they had all gotten ready, Burt taking a long shower just as Kurt had predicted. Burt graciously bought them lunch from a hot dog vendor, leaving them afterwards to catch the train back to Ohio. Kurt spent every moment up until that point watching his dad and Blaine interact, heart tensing every time his dad asked a tough question or Blaine said something he thought might draw Burt's suspicion, and relaxing when they laughed together and had a lengthy conversation about sports that Kurt couldn't follow at all despite spending so much time cheering on the sidelines of athletic events.

"You be good kiddo." Burt directed as he gave Kurt one of his giant, patented bear hugs before doing the same to a surprised Blaine and whispering in his ear.

"What did my dad say to you?" Kurt asked, once they had waved Burt off.

"Ah... just... to find my way to New York."

Kurt nodded, stuffing his pockets with his hands as he looked to the ground. As nice as it would be to have Blaine here, he knew that Blaine couldn't give up his scholarship that easily.

"I'm terrified of ending up like my parents Kurt... I want to make sure I'm financially stable..."

Again Kurt nodded quietly. He could understood Blaine's reasoning, for as cold comfort as it was to him. Tomorrow he'd have to say goodbye until one of them could afford to visit the other. Most of Kurt's money was allocated for living expenses since being a background singer and dancer didn't make as much as New York City life required. Once Blaine was gone, Kurt would get some day shifts at a diner Elliott knew the manager of and maybe, just maybe, Kurt would be able to visit Blaine at Thanksgiving.

"But I want to make sure I don't lose sight of the people that are important either..."

To that, Kurt looked back up at Blaine whose lower lip was quivering slightly. He looked utterly terrified and Kurt's heart immediately sunk. Was this the end? Was it going to be over just as quickly as it had begun? Had Blaine realized how futile their being together was going to be long distance?

"My parents care more about making money than they do about spending time with me... even after everything that's happened... and it hurts Kurt... I hate being pushed to the side. I loved my nanny but hated that my parents never cared enough to raise me themselves. The relationships I've had? I mimicked how my parents treated one another in them… so cold and proper… and it never felt right. It never felt like the love I always wanted. I don't want to be like that. I want the people I love to know that I love them... whatever sacrifice that takes..."

Kurt gulped his heart back upwards, letting it stomp against his ribs in an angry, maddening dance as he stared at Blaine. "What... what do you mean?"

"I hate cheering, and I love you. I'll figure out a way to pay my way here... see if I can transfer to NYU or another college here... It might mean I work two jobs... but at least I could come home to you... I mean... it's a big step, and I'm assuming a lot of things, but I hoped that maybe..."

Kurt leapt forward, into Blaine whose arms wrapped around him a second later due to a delay from the surprise of the motion. "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really, you big snoring dope."

Blaine's trembling lower lip steadied as he looked over Kurt's face for the truth to what he was saying, and Kurt looked back to Blaine intently, trying to convey just how serious he was. It would be hard - a penniless student and a poor actor trying to survive in the city, but everything about it felt right. Instead of a burden, it felt like they were committing themselves to a great adventure.

"I... I don't snore... my nanny..."

Kurt just laughed and pressed his lips to Blaine's to silence him, making himself a mental note that he needed to record Blaine sleeping in the future, now that he knew he would get the chance.

* * *

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Oh holy hell! Coach Sylvester was promoted to Dean of Athletics!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Who's going to coach the Sirens then?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Hello! Newsflash! Even more important? Blaine's ditching us all to go room up with twinkle toes in New York!_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_NO!_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_YEAH!_

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_Moving pretty damned fast those two._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_I'm calling it. They must have amazing sex._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_Hell, if they both weren't gayer than a pride parade I'd jump either one of them._

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_Wanky._


	38. Chapter 38

From the bathtub, Blaine listened to Kurt in the other room, speaking to his father in such a fluid, rapid manner. His voice was more high than normal, excited and nervous all at once as he argued over the details with his father. He was telling Burt about their plans together.

Together.

The reality of what Blaine had proposed earlier that afternoon was just beginning to sink in. He was giving up his scholarship, his place at SCU, and the security about his future that came with it. He could only hear part of the conversation that Kurt was having with his father, but he could piece together what was being said. Kurt had told his dad, his dad had questioned how they were moving so quickly, Kurt defended the idea to his father, his father had asked him something that gave Kurt pause, and now Kurt was fumbling for words to try and justify it all.

In a way, Blaine was jealous. When he had called his mother he had half hoped for some sort of reaction, but all he got was the same old polite disinterest. He had excused himself to the bath, hoping Kurt would join him before the water got cold, and come make all his insecurities go away.

The conversation continued though, Kurt's voice eventually leveling out until the water was tepid and Blaine was nudging the knob with his foot to add more hot water to the mix.

"You look like a living raisin." Kurt said, peeking around the corner of the bathroom in at Blaine, who turned sideways to offer a smile to Kurt and sweeping a hand over the water to suggest Kurt join him.

Layer by layer, Kurt's clothing slid off him, almost like it was water against his smooth, silken skin, and Blaine watched it all with reverent eyes. Kurt had the body of a greek god and nothing could or would ever captivate Blaine like Kurt's undressing would. Then Kurt was stepping into the water, the tub not really large enough to accommodate the both of them. The water rose until the safety drain below the tap kicked in so the water wouldn't creep out over the edge. Tightly entrenched against one another, Kurt resting his head back against Blaine's chest, Blaine could feel each intake and exhale of breath Kurt made.

"My dad has his concerns."

Blaine made a soft 'hmm' of acknowledgement, brushing his pruney fingers down Kurt's arms.

"He thinks we're rushing things."

"Are we? I mean… we can slow things down if you think we are… I don't want to pressure you or -"

"Oh hell." Kurt interrupted, turning his head back to look at Blaine with sheer incredulousness. "Are you Spartans always so indecisive? No wonder you always lose to us."

Finally. A relief to the worry Blaine had pent up within him. He let out a small chuckle and just shook his head in Kurt's direction. "So what did you tell your dad then?"

Kurt turned his his head back around and rested it back against Blaine's chest, the pressure feeling so solid and warm there. "I reminded him that he and my mom were just kids too… dated for five months, engaged for five… they got married in less than a year of knowing one another and it turned out fine - so why can't I try my luck at something that feels right?"

"Mmm… and that actually worked?"

"No. He gave me the whole "that was different" lecture, to which I replied that it was and is no different. Then he wanted to know if we'd be getting a place with three bedrooms -"

"Three?! Has he seen the rental prices in New York?"

"... clearly not. Anyhow. I asked him why three, and he said… get this… one for a guest room when he visits and then a room for each of us. Separate rooms… honestly."

Blaine chuckled once again. "Well at least he plans to visit us."

"I'm not worried though. Nervous? Yeah. Excited? You bet. Worried? No…. Maybe I'm just a silly romantic for thinking it, but I trust you… and I think that even though we're moving quickly, we're going in the right direction."

A flutter went through Blaine's chest and he couldn't contain it within his ribs as it went out through his limbs, prompting Kurt to look back at him again. "Are you cold?"

"N-no." Blaine said, pressing his forehead against Kurt's. "I'm just… I'm glad you're happy with me."

"What did your parents say? Were they as shocked as my dad?" Kurt cooed, reaching up behind Blaine's head and winding his fingers into Blaine's curls.

"Well my dad didn't want to talk and my mom… well she said 'Oh. That's nice. When are you coming to visit?' which of course I couldn't answer… because, hell… what's the point in planning to visit them when they'll make plans to avoid you anyhow?"

The fingers wound Blaine's curls tightly, holding them firm against the back of his head. "I'm sorry."

Blaine shook his head as much as the hold allowed for. "Not your fault… anyhow… my mom is sending me some money."

Kurt's fingers paused, and his pupils rolled upwards to connect with Blaine's, "What? Why?"

"They're making money again… want to pay off the debt I paid of theirs… She said it's because she wants to make things right, but I think it's because they don't want to feel like they even owe me the small bit of kindness they do give me. They want to return to the lives they had."

"Oh… baby…"

The pet name caused Blaine's mouth to crook up into a grin. "It'll help though. Us… starting out…"

"You don't have to take it."

"I will though… I don't have any shame in me about it, especially since having some cash will take a giant weight off my chest."

"And you do have such a nice chest… would be a shame to have it crushed." Kurt uttered, moving a hand down to track his fingers over the mentioned patch of body and causing a tremble to cascade through him.

"Are you truly… I mean really, really sure you're okay with it all? Jokes aside?"

Blaine watched Kurt with deadly concentration, staring at him as Kurt's lips pursed into tight line and then, after what seemed like eternity, broke into a toothy grin. "Of course you dope."

"I liked baby better." Blaine laughed, so relieved.

"We're going to move in together…"

"Yeah… we are…"

"And no more cheerleading…"

To that, Blaine laughed loudly, "God no. No more. Never again."

"And we'll live happily ever after."

Blaine smiled like he never had before, like freedom filled him from head to toe, like he was… flying.

"Yeah. We will."

* * *

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_No more Sirens… no more Spartans… just stupid-ass Stars. How overused is that team name?_

**_Quintessential_ **   
_I know right? Merging the two teams into one with Washington at the helm? It'll be chaos._

**_KittysKorner_ **   
_They made such a big deal over it too… all the "make sure you get along" business. I mean, did we ever not get along?_

**_AuntieSnix_ **   
_….._

**_Quintessential_ **   
_…._

**_FondueForMew_ **   
_Woo!_   
_#StarsRule_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... that's all folks! Thanks for sticking it out with me, especially for these last two chapters. Seriously, don't leave a fic as a WIP if you're going on a road trip - there is a serious lack of solid and free wifi on the road.


End file.
